^yr 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT   OF   CAPT.   AND    MRS. 
PAUL  MCBRIDE  PERIGORD 


AT 

LOS  ANGELES 

UBRARY 


/ 


THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 


BY 


CHARLES   VAN   NORDEN,   D.  D.,   LL.  D. 

LATE    PRESIDENT    OF    ELMIRA    COLLEGE 


'      ■»    ^  ■» 


NEW    YORK 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1894 


144360 


Copyright,  1894, 
By  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


'^      ;    ;    T^LECtRCT"I'Er<    vnd'Phi!tted 

»■■'    -AT  'TH'i;,Ai-p:LETGN  Peesc,  U.  S.  A. 
»  .    . «     ..    *    "^  ^^, 


PEEFACE. 


The   purpose   and    spirit    of   this  Jittle  book   is 

strictly  scientific.     If  any  justification  for  its  appear- 

P    ance  be  needed,  the  public  will  find  ample  in  the 

'~'    unsettled  condition  of  the  metaphysical  world,  in  the 

^    marvelous  strides  of  biological  and  psychical  discovery, 

,tx    and  the  utter  demoralization  of  the  old  psychology. 

b    The  Psychic  Factor  is  not  addressed  to  the  populace, 

nor  yet  to  original  investigators,  but  to  students.     It 

^    is  intended  to  embody  the  trustworthy  results  of  safe 

'^     thought  in  the  realm  of  current  psychology. 
■^ 

o 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION. 

I. — The  Science  defined 1 

II.— Methods 11 

III. — History  and  Bibliography       .        »       .        .        .13 

Part  I. — Mind  in  General. 

Section  I. — The  Psycnic  Factor  Consid- 
ered Comparatively. 

I.— Mind  in  Plants 14 

II. — IMind  in  Animals 20 

III.— The  Nervous  System 24 

IV. — A  Survey  of  Nerve  Systems  in  the  Order  of  Cona- 

plexity 30 

V. — General   Reflections    upon    the    Psychic    Factor 

Comparatively  Viewed 36 

Section  II. — Consciousness. 

VI. — Consciousness  in  General 42 

VII.— Attention 44 

VIII. — The  Enchaining  and  Grouping  Function  of  Con- 
sciousness       47 

IX.— The  General  Quality  of  Mental  States    ...  51 
X. — The  Influence  of  Mental  States  on  Organic  Func- 
tions       61 


VI 


THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

Section  III. — ^Subconsciousness. 

XI. — Subconsciousness  in  General      .        .        .        .  G7 

XII.— Sleep 69 

XIII.— Dreaming 72 

XIV. — Somnambulism 80 

XV.— Hypnosis 84 

XVI. — The  Hypnotic  Sleep  Personality        ...  91 

XVII.— Thought-Transference 103 

XVIII.— Lucidity 107 

XIX.— Hallucination 110 

Section  IV.— The  Psychology  of  Disease. 

XX.— Hysteria 118 

XXI.— Criminality 120 


Part  II. — Mind  in  Detail. 

Section  I. — The  Sensory  and  Motor  end 
Organs. 

XXII.— The  Evolution  of  the  End  Orpans 
XXIII.— The  End  Organs  of  Touch 
XXIV.— Muscular  Sense  . 
XXV.— The  End  Organs  of  Smell  . 
XXVI.— The  End  Organs  of  Taste  . 
XXVIL— The  Temperature  End  Organs 

XXVIII.— Sight 

XXIX.— Hearing       .... 
XXX.— The  Motor  End  Organs      . 


128 
133 
136 
138 
142 
144 
146 
152 
156 


Section  II. — Analysis  of  the  Cognitive 
Powers. 

XXXI. — Synthesis  of  Sense  Impressions 

XXXII.— Sensation  .... 
XXXIII.— The  Perceptive  Process  . 
XXXIV.— Memory       .... 

XXXV. — The  Recollective  Process    . 


157 

158 
166 
175 
178 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  vii 

CHAPTER  ^^^^ 

XXXVI— Imagination 182 

XXXVII.— The    Comparative     Processes  —  Conception, 

Judgment,  and  Reasoning  ....  188 

XXXVIIL— Formal  Thought 200 

XXXIX.— Review 205 

Section  III.— The  Feelings  and  the 
Will. 

XL.— The  Feelings 208 

XLI.— Willing 213 

Index 219 


THE   PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 


INTRODUCTION. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE    SCIENCE    DEFINED. 

1.  Psychology  investigates  mind.  By  mind  we 
mean  all  psycliic  states,  whether  of  intellection,  feeling, 
or  volition — in  short,  the  psychic  factor. 

2.  Recent  psychology  has  been  described  as  ex- 
perimental and  physiological,  simply  because  practical 
rather  than  speculative — an  attempt  at  exact  science 
in  a  realm  which  hitherto  has  been  proverbial  for  its 
vagueness,  assumj^tion,  and  contradictions. 

3.  All  sciences  have  had  their  birth  in  regions  of 
ignorance,  and  hence  of  superstition  and  of  specula- 
tion. First  came  blank  ignorance,  after  that  super- 
stitious interpretation,  and  then  philosophic,  specula- 
tion. Exact  science  began  only  with  experimentation, 
and  has  proceeded  by  induction.  Alchemy,  at  first  a 
sorcerous  attempt  to  convert  stones  into  gold,  only 
after  ages  of  puzzled  thought  became  chemistry. 
Suidas  says  that  the  Golden  Fleece  was  simply  a 
parchment  on  which  was  written  this  art  of  transmu- 


2  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOP 

tation.  If  so,  it  was  then  the  first  essay  of  an  im- 
meiise  literature  which  only  of  late  has  possessed  any 
value  whatever.  Star-gazing,  an  occupation  for  the 
eager  and  credulous,  becoming  astrology — which  was 
but  an  instrument  of  fraud  for  charlatans — slowly 
evolved  into  exact  astronomy,  Ptolemaic  cycles  and 
epicycles,  impossible  though  they  were,  at  least  pre- 
pared the  way  for  Galileo,  Copernicus,  and  Newton. 
And  geology  was  conceived  in  ignorance  and  reared 
in  a  realm  of  legends,  myths,  and  guesses.  The  fossil 
bones  of  giant  beasts  found  in  caves  served  to  illus- 
trate, for  the  devout,  the  story  in  Genesis  of  primeval 
antediluvian  giants  ;  while  for  the  profane  they  but- 
tressed credulity  in  thrilling  tales  of  dragons  and  bat- 
tles between  beasts  and  men.  Increase  Mather — Cot- 
ton Mather's  father — on  finding  ribs  of  the  mastodon 
in  Massachusetts,  solemnly  announced  to  the  scientific 
world  in  England  that  he  had  discovered  some  traces 
of  those  infamous  human  monsters  who  brought  on 
the  flood.  Within  a  century  the  common  people  of 
Germany  have  been  known  to  grind  up  the  bones  of 
cave  bears  and  hairy  mammoths  for  potent  medicine, 
believing  them  to  be  the  remnants  of  griffins  and  uni- 
corns. Petrified  nautilus  shells  used  to  be  called  snake 
stones,  and  in  popular  belief  they  are  still  serpents  be- 
headed and  petrified  by  the  prayer  of  sweet,  timid  St. 
Hilda.  Less  than  one  century  ago  Voltaire,  sneering 
at  the  story  of  the  deluge,  was  overwhelmed  with  the 
facts  to  which  his  attention  was  triumphantly  called 
by  Christian  apologists,  that  petrified  shells  were  to  be 
found  on  the  tops  of  mountains.  The  very  lame  de- 
fense was  that  these  had  not  been  dropped  by  the 
flood,  but  had  fallen  from  the  pockets  of  pilgrims  re- 


THE  SCIENCE  DEFINED.  3 

turning  from  Palestine  !     Only  yesterday  did  geology 
become  exact. 

Psychology  has  proved  no  exception  to  this  rule. 
It  has  but  just  emerged  from  its  threefold  career 
through  ignorance,  superstition,  and  speculation.  Only 
yesterday  it  was  where  physics  stood  in  the  days  of 
Anaximander  and  Thales,  in  the  stage  of  logical  and 
descriptive  analysis.  And  to-day  the  science  is  but 
in  its  infancy.  Prof.  James,  of  Harvard,  says  :  "  Psy- 
chology is  to-day  hardly  more  than  physics  was  before 
Galileo,  what  chemistry  was  before  Lavoisier.  It  is  a 
mass  of  phenomenal  description,  gossip  and  myth,  in- 
cluding however  real  material  enough  to  justify  one 
in  the  hope  that  its  study  may  become  worthy  of  the 
name  of  natural  science  at  no  distant  day." 

Not  until  the  microscope  established  histology,  and 
vivisection  became  the  handmaid  of  surgery,  and  hy]?- 
notism  opened  a  door  into  the  realm  of  the  subcon- 
scious, did  an  exact  study  of  the  psychic  factor  become 
feasible. 

4.  It  does  not,  however,  become  us  to  underrate 
the  value  of  the  scholastic  philosophy.  Speculation  in 
psychology  has  achieved  real  and  great  successes,  owing 
to  the  possibility,  in  all  ages,  of  introspection  ;  which 
is  a  very  important  department  of  scientific  experi- 
mentation. The  self-study  of  rare  genius  has  not  been 
fruitless.  The  results  of  the  thinking  of  philosophers 
like  Plato,  Aristotle,  Kant,  and  Hegel  can  never  fail 
to  compel  respectful  consideration.  These  results  have 
proved  of  special  value  in  the  classifying  of  mental 
states.  While  psychologists  have  come  to  look  upon 
the  so-called  faculties  as  only  customary  modes  of 
mental  behavior,  the  old-time  discrimination  of  these 


4  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

into  groups  for  purposes  of  study  has  not  been,  nor  is 
likely  to  be,  improved  upon. 

5.  But  long  ago  the  vein  was  well  worked  out ;  and 
on  this  line  of  effort  nothing  remains  to  do  but  to  erect 
new  structures  of  guesswork,  and  to  batter  down  old 
ones  just  as  well  and  just  as  ill  founded. 

6.  The  lackings  of  the  speculative  method  are  four- 
fold : 

(1)  Introspection  begins  and  ends  with  the  thinker 
himself ;  while  the  psychic  factor  is  found  in  all  living 
matter,  and  in  every  creature  challenges  study. 

(2)  In  the  thinker,  introspection  is  limited  to  the 
present  moment  and  to  memory  of  a  personal  past. 
It  can  not  investigate  even  its  own  evolutionary  ante- 
cedents. 

(3)  It  is  utterly  excluded  from  that  vast  realm  of 
the  subconscious,  which  forms  the  most  interesting  de- 
partment in  the  psychology  of  to-day. 

(4)  It  is  embarrassed  by  its  own  prejudices  and 
delusions.  It  were  easy  to  show  that  it  constantly 
mistakes  mediate  knowledge  for  immediate,  acquired 
knowledge  for  innate,  and  inherited  for  necessary. 

7.  Though  it  be  in  methods  experimental,  psychol- 
ogy needs  must  start  out  with  a  postulate.  For  there 
can  be  no  exj^lanation  without  something  to  explain, 
and  all  philosophy  brings  us  to  ultimates.  Psychology 
runs  back  upon  three  ultimates — matter,  life  and  mind. 
These  it  fails  to  analyze  into  simpler  elements  or  to 
identify  beyond  a  peradventure  with  one  another. 
Speculation  may,  of  course,  devise  hypotheses  to  ana- 
lyze or  to  unify  but  all  evidence  fails.  Hypotheses 
here  have  proved  utterly  barren.  The  endless  battles 
of  metaphysicians  over  these   stubborn,   elusive  ele- 


THE  SCIENCE  DEFINED.  5 

meuts,  in  vain  speculation,  have  been  and  can  be  only 
Walhalla  conflicts  of  ghosts,  that  hew  one  another  to 
pieces  each  day,  on  the  morrow  to  renew  the  aimless 
strife  joyfully  and  vainly. 

8.  We  will  note  the  five  hypotheses  that  challenge 
our  criticism  at  the  present  time,  only  to  illustrate  that 
folly  of  claiming  to  know  too  much  which  has  always 
cursed  psychology  : 

(1)  Materialism.  Matter  embraces  mind.  Atoms 
and  forces  beget  ideas,  which  are  material  entities. 
Consciousness  is  only  a  series  of  those  mental  materials. 
In  short,  matter  has  latent  in  it  the  promise  and  po- 
tency of  mind.  Mill,  Spencer,  Tyndall,  and  a  host  of 
English  philosophers,  and  Comte  and  his  disciples 
among  the  French,  and  Herbart  and  his  followers 
among  the  Germans,  have  held  this  doctrine. 

(2)  Idealism.  Mind  embraces  matter.  Ideas  be- 
get atoms  and  forces.  Material  phenomena  are  only 
phases  of  consciousness.  In  short,  mind  has  in  it  the 
promise  and  potency  of  matter.  As  Omar  Khayyam 
in  the  Eubaiyat  declares  : 

"  We  are  no  other  than  a  moving  row 
Of  magic  shadow-shapes  that  come  and  go." 

Hegel,  Fichte,  and  Schelling  stand  prominent 
among  idealists. 

(3)  Ideal  realism.  Matter  is  parallel  with  mind. 
Ideas  and  things,  thought  and  being,  are  parallel  one 
to  the  other.  By  some  mysterious  coarrangement 
(occasionalism  according  to  Descartes,  pre-established 
harmony  according  to  Leibnitz)  the  two  series  accom- 
pany one  another,  mind  and  body  perfectly  attuned 
— soprano  and  bass — but  without  causal  connection. 
Lotze  seems  to  find  refuge  in  such  a  scheme. 


6  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

(4)  Monism.  Matter  is  mind.  Ideas  and  things, 
thought  and  being,  are  identical.  Conscionsness  is 
an  aspect  of  certain  material  forces.  Says  Fechner, 
"  What  from  an  internal  point  of  view  seems  to  be 
your  spirit,  seems  from  an  external  point  of  view  to  be 
the  bodily  substratum  of  that  spirit."  If  you  stand  on 
the  inside  of  a  hollow  sphere  you  see  only  the  concav- 
ity of  its  surface ;  if  on  the  outside,  only  its  convexity. 
Yet  it  is  the  same  surface. 

(5)  Matter  and  mind  are  different  in  substance,  but 
a  causal  connection  exists  between  them.  Atoms  and 
forces  on  the  one  hand,  and  thought  on  the  other ! 
Body  and  sonl,  each  substantial  but  of  utterly  different 
substance !  The  soul  sways  the  body  and  the  body  af- 
fects the  soul,  there  being  a  causal  nexus.  This  is  the 
popular,  the  traditional,  and  the  simplest  explanation. 
A  very  able  defense  of  this  view  may  be  found  in  the 
closing  chapters  of  Prof.  Ladd's  Physiological  Psy- 
chology. 

9.  At  first  sight  these  hypotheses  seem  utterly  di- 
verse, and  doubtless  are  advocated  by  men  of  widely 
different  temperaments,  beliefs,  and  tendencies.  But 
the  diversity  at  bottom  is  more  seeming  than  real 
and  is  owing  to  our  reading  into  them  meanings  de- 
rived from  prejudice.  If  the  first  be  true,  and  matter 
be  capable  of  generating  mind,  then  in  matter  must  be 
dormant  all  the  properties  that  can  be  shown  to  have 
ever  inhered  in  the  psychic  factor,  and  it  is  no  longer 
gross  and  inert  but  as  truly  spiritual  as  material.  If, 
however,  the  second  hypothesis  be  accurate,  and  if  it  be 
the  function  of  mind  to  generate  matter,  why,  thoughts 
are  quite  substantial  and  visions  full  of  solidity,  force, 
and   point.      And  if  matter  and   mind   be  parallel, 


THE  SCIENCE  DEFINED.  7 

which  is  the  worse  or  different  for  that  fact  ?  And  if 
matter  and  mind  be  identical — only  inside  and  outside 
of  the  same  curved  surface — what  does  this  signify  ? 
On  any  of  these  hypotheses  you  have  broached  a  pos- 
sible fact,  which  is,  however,  utterly  barren  in  prac- 
tical bearings. 

We  naturally  think  of  a  materialist  as  a  gross, 
wooden-headed,  leaden-hearted  thinker,  but  there  is 
nothing  to  prevent  in  him  the  loftiest  flights  of  poetry 
and  spirituality.  And  we  are  tempted  to  judge  the 
idealist  as  an  insane  skeptic ;  he  may  be  and  often  is, 
however,  a  perfectly  matter-of-fact  person,  given  to 
hunger,  athletics,  and  honliommie.  If  you  must  have 
a  hypothesis,  choose  one  of  these  five,  but  do  not  de- 
ceive yourself  with  the  idea  that  you  have  added  to 
your  stock  of  knowledge.  So  far  as  knowledge  goes, 
there  are  three  unresolvable  ultimates — matter,  life, 
and  mind.  These  may  be  capable  of  resolution,  they 
may  in  time  be  resolved,  but  as  yet  they  are  to  all  ex- 
perimentation elements.  And  so  the  wag  was  quite 
right,  who,  when  asked  what  mind  was,  replied,  "  No 
matter,"  and  when  asked  what  then  matter  was,  an- 
swered, "  Never  mind."  Well  says  Tyndall :  "  The 
problem  of  the  connection  of  body  and  soul  is  as  in- 
solvable  in  its  modern  form  as  it  was  in  the  prehistoric 
ages."  And  Huxley  :  "  How  anything  so  remarkable 
as  a  state  of  consciousness  comes  about  as  a  result  of  irri- 
tating nervous  tissue  is  just  as  unaccountable  as  the  ap- 
pearance of  tlie  djinn  when  Aladdin  rubbed  his  lamp." 
Yet  both  of  these  men  are  pronounced  materialists. 

10.  Two  affirmations  we  may  safely  make  of  tlie  re- 
lations existing  between  the  three  ultimates,  that  em- 
phasize the  radical  nature  of  the  distinction  : 


8  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

(1)  That  particular  molecules  of  matter  may  come 
and  go  in  continuous  interchange,  without  disturbing 
the  vital  or  psychic  processes  in  the  least.  This  occurs 
in  oxidation,  secretion  and  excretion.  In  animal  or 
plant,  living  matter  is  in  perpetual  flux. 

(2)  When  mind  and  life  depart  in  death  the  matter 
remains,  so  far  as  science  can  discover,  chemically  and 
physically  the  same. 

These  two  facts  throw  discredit  upon  theories  that 
confuse  or  identify  the  three  ultimates. 

11.  Indeed,  we  shall  find  that  while  we  push  back 
the  barriers  of  knowledge,  beyond  them  lurk  abysses 
we  can  not  penetrate.  Several  things  are  to  be  re- 
membered : 

(1)  We  are  dealing  in  this  realm  with  forces  in- 
finitely more  attenuated,  subtile,  and  lively  than  we 
ourselves  as  a  whole  are.  Thus,  in  vision  we  are  deal- 
ing with  light.  Eeflect  that  every  second  of  vision,  a 
cone  of  light  for  each  luminous  point  viewed  enters 
the  eye  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  thou- 
sand miles.  Gaze  at  a  star.  For  every  second  of  such 
vision  a  ray  of  light  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
miles  long  slides  into  the  pupil.  This  ray  is  a  vibra- 
tion of  ether  and  enters  in  the  form  of  waves,  and 
breaks  upon  the  retina  as  the  ocean  upon  the  seashore 
in  a  sort  of  ethereal  surf.  In  one  second  not  less  than 
five  hundred  billions  of  these  light- waves  dash  into  the 
eye  to  beat  against  the  optic  shore  of  nerves.  And  this 
shore  of  nerves  is  composed  of  one  hundred  million 
nerve  elements  to  the  square  inch ;  each  of  which  re- 
ceives a  separate  impulse,  and  all  of  which  work  in 
harmony.  There  is  no  end  to  such  facts.  We  are 
subtler  in  detail  than  as  a  whole.     As  psychic  beings 


THE  SCIENCE  DEFINED.  9 

we  master  or  are  mastered  by  forces  of  iuconceivable 
divisibility  and  siibtility. 

(2)  Then,  again,  it  is  the  fate  of  mind,  when  in- 
quiring after  causes  and  essences,  to  reach  speedily  the 
limits  of  knowledge ;  and  to  attempt  to  penetrate  be- 
yond is  sheer  folly.  All  the  woes  of  metaphysicians 
have  come  from  this  foolhardiness.  Ultimate  facts 
will  encounter  us  everywhere,  marking  the  insur- 
mountable barriers  of  thought.  With  them  we  must 
pause.  Our  final  knowledge  is  and  will  probably  ever 
be  but  a  light  shining  in  darkness. 

(3)  We  are  in  a  universe  which  bristles  with  prob- 
lems that  the  human  mind  may  at  some  future  time 
solve,  but  which  can  not  be  successfully  treated  at 
present. 

12.  The  purpose  of  experimental  psj'chology,  then, 
is  not  to  find  out  all  psychic  facts,  nor  to  find  out  any 
ps3'chic  fact  to  perfection,  but  simply  to  discover  and 
arrange  relative  and  derivative  facts,  to  push  out  the 
barriers,  to  study  mental  methods,  and  to  weigh  the 
validity  of  mental  operation. 

13.  It  is  therefore  not  a  study  of  mental  results 
but  of  mental  processes — not  what  we  see,  but  how 
we  see ;  not  what  we  think,  but  how  we  think ;  not 
what  we  feel,  but  how  we  feel.  The  results  of  mental 
action  we  have  in  various  other  sciences — astronomy, 
biology,  chemistry,  etc.  Psychology  tries  to  discover 
by  what  powers  and  methods  we  attain  these  results. 
It  is  the  scientist  turning  from  the  world  to  study 
himself.  It  is  a  response  to  the  everlasting  "know 
thyself  "  of  inquisitive  philosophy. 

14.  This  science  is  naturally  and  necessarily  dom- 
inated by  recent  discoveries  bearing  upon  the  extreme 

2 


10  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

probability  of  an  organic  evolution.  If  man  is  the  end 
of  a  series  of  growths  allied  genetically  to  lower  minds, 
comparative  psychology  assimies  first  importance,  and 
our  study  begins  with  the  monad  and  finds  a  very  good 
implement  in  analogy.  In  these  lectures  the  evolu- 
tionary hypothesis  is  adopted  as  a  working  theory.  It 
is  not  claimed  as  beyond  peradventure  proved,  but  only 
as  best  explaining  the  facts.  Evolutionary  language  is 
used  and  the  movement  is  by  the  paths  of  supposed 
evolutionary  ascension. 

15.  The  scope  of  this  science  is  as  far-reaching  as 
the  phenomena  of  life ;  for  life  never  appears  without 
mind  as  its  correlative.  Hence  biology,  the  science  of 
life,  and  psychology,  the  science  of  mind,  are  kindred 
in  aims,  and  constantly  cross  one  another's  path.  His- 
tory recording  the  actions  of  men  furnishes  perpetual 
and  diversified  illustrations  of  psychic  operation.  As 
Herbart  well  claimed,  "  psychology  shoots  its  roots  into 
the  sciences  of  life  and  blossoms  in  the  historical  sci- 
encesi' 

16.  The  future  of  psychology  is  very  promising. 
Myers  is  justified  in  saying  that  "there  will  be  no 
cause  for  surprise  if,  as  time  goes  on,  man's  experi- 
ments on  the  world  without  should  yield  in  interest 
and  importance  to  his  experiments  upon  himself.  In- 
ward the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way  !  .  .  .  All  that 
he  has  learned  without  himself  has  been  but  a  means 
to  the  comprehension  of  that  which  was  within." 


METHODS.  11. 

CHAPTER  XL 

METHODS. 

1.  Chemical  and  physical.  Because  mind  is  alwa3'3 
associated  with  matter,  and  the  laws  of  material  com- 
position and  motion  underlie  the  entire  physiology  of 
the  senses  and  the  organic  functions.  The  study  of  the 
direct  relations  of  mind  and  matter  has  been  termed 
psycho-physics ;  it  busies  itself  chiefly  with  the  relation 
between  the  quality  and  intensity  of  stimulus  and  the 
quality  and  intensity  of  psychic  reaction.  Closely  as- 
sociated with  this  is  psychometry,  or  the  time-meas- 
urement of  psychic  reaction. 

2.  Biological.  For  mind  is  always  associated  with 
life,  and  we  must  study  the  living  cell  in  its  life  his- 
tory in  order  to  investigate  ps3^chic  processes  in  their 
simplest  forms  and  lowest  degrees.  Here  we  need  the 
microscope ;  for  this  reveals  to  us  a  new  world  of 
thought,  feeling  and  action. 

3.  Anatomical  and  physiological.  For  mind  at  its 
best  is  associated  with  structures  of  great  and  signifi- 
cant complexity  admitting  of  vivisection  and  dissec- 
tion. Considerable  knowledge  of  structure  and  func- 
tion is  now  required  by  psychologists. 

4.  Pathological.  Because  mind  in  its  various  pro- 
cesses is  associated  with  localities  in  structure.  A 
study  of  disease  often  enables  us  to  locate  functions. 
This  method,  however,  is  exceedingly  difficult  and 
misleading,  because  of  our  ignorance  of  disease,  and 
because  of  the  interrelations  of  the  entire  nervous  sys- 
tem.    Valuable  results  will  flow  only  from  the  most 


12  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

patient,  prolonged  and  unprejudiced  observation  and 
reflection. 

5.  Psychical.  For  mind  is  never  found  unasso- 
ciated  with  other  minds ;  and  subtle  interrelations  are 
clearly  discernible.  Hence,  hypnotic  experimentation 
has  of  late  years  been  much  resorted  to,  as  enabling 
one,  the  agent,  in  studying  another,  the  sensitive,  by 
suggestion  and  command  to  operate  separately  upon 
different  sets  of  nerve  centers.  And  hence,  also,  the 
value  of  studies  in  thought-transference,  lucidit}^  and 
similar  phenomena.  These  particular  methods  have 
come  to  group  themselves  together  under  the  conven- 
ient heading.  Psychical  Kesearch. 

6.  Introspective.  Last  and  best.  Mind's  highest 
knowledge  is  self-knowledge.  I  am  always  chez  moi — 
at  home  with  myself.  Introspection  must  begin  and 
end,  accompany  and  correct,  all  our  devising,  albeit 
with  due  regard  to  the  necessary  limitations. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HISTORY    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1.  Experimental  psychology  was  rendered  inevi- 
table by  the  labors  of  Bacon  and  Leibnitz  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Bain,  Mill,  Spencer,  Taine,  John 
Mueller,  Weber,  Fechner,  and  Lotzo  have  been  the 
prophets  of  its  annunciation  and  exposition.  Its  pres- 
ent advocates  are  many,  and  they  are  the  authorities 
in  mental  science. 

2.  Something  of  a  division  of  labor,  resulting  from 
a  varying  direction  of  interest,  occurs  to-day  among 


HISTORY   AND  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  13 

psychical  expositors.  In  England  and  America  com- 
parative psychology  and  psycliical  research  are  upper- 
most ;  in  Germany,  psycho-physics ;  and  in  France, 
pathological  psychology. 

3.  Any  one  beginning  in  earnest  the  study  is  advised 
first  to  master  a  good  history  of  })hilosophy,  like  Erd- 
mann's  or  XJeberweg's,  then  Bain's  The  Senses  and 
The  Intellect,  and  The  Emotions  and  The  Will.  After 
that,  II.  Spencer's  Principles  of  Psychology.  These 
simply  to  prepare  the  way  for  Lotze's  Microcosm, 
AVundt's  Physiologische  Psychologic,  and  Ladd's 
Physiological  Psychology.  It  will  be  well  to  add 
Janet's  Automatisme  Psychologique,  if  one  read 
French  and  Binet  on  the  Psychic  Life  of  Micro- 
organisms. A  great  many  articles  in  scientific  maga- 
zines, pamphlets  and  books,  of  much  value  and  intense 
interest,  are  now  constantly  appearing.  Psychical  re- 
search engages  at  the  present  time  the  rapt  attention 
of  many  keen  minds  and  the  publications  of  the  Eng- 
lish Society  of  l*sychical  Research  will  repay  careful 
perusal. 

To  keep  in  touch  with  the  great  leaders  of  what 
may  be  termed  orthodox  psychology  one  must  be  con- 
versant with  the  works  of  such  writers  as  McCosh, 
Sully,  Baldwin,  and  Iloelfding. 


PART  I. 
MIND  IN  GENERAL. 


SECTION  I. 
THE   PSYCHIC   FACTOK   CONSIDERED  COMPAEATIVELY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MIND    IN    PLANTS. 

1.  Living  matter  is  always  psychic.  At  first  this 
statement  may  seem  startling  in  its  involvements,  but 
it  is  simply  a  corollary  not  only  of  the  theory  of  evolu- 
tion, but  as  M'ell  of  the  unquestioned  facts  of  develop- 
ment. 

(1)  We  must  infer  it  from  the  facts  of  develop- 
ment. Take  our  own  human  life-history,  from  ovum 
to  maturity.  The  fertilized  human  egg  is  at  first  a 
single  living  cell,  but  directly,  by  division  of  the 
nucleus,  it  becomes  an  aggregate  of  cells.  This  aggre- 
gate takes  shape  as  a  sac  or  gastrula.  Out  of  the  gas- 
trula  arises  a  vertebrate  creature  of  lowest  notochord 
type;  and  this  forms  a  spinal  column,  soon  to  appear 
as  clearly  a  mammal.  Last  of  all  comes  the  human 
infant — child — youth — adult;  and  the  series  ends  per- 


MIND   IN   PLANTS.  15 

chance  in  Plato,  Shakespeare,  or  Tennyson.  Now  this 
progress  is  a  close  continuous  unfolding  of  the  original 
cell.  There  is  no  gap  for  mind  to  creep  into  during 
the  movement.  The  original  cell,  simple  and  un- 
divided, must  at  the  start  be  viewed  as  psychic.  If 
mind  is  to  be  found  at  last  in  Plato,  we  must  presup- 
pose it  in  the  egg ;  if  that  egg  be  merely  chemical  and 
physical,  why,  so  is  Plato. 

(2)  We  must  infer  the  same  from  the  evolution  of 
intelligences  in  the  organic  world.  There  is  an  un- 
broken gradation  of  them,  a  series  of  ever-expanding 
numbers.  There  is  no  beginning  place  for  mind  any- 
where in  the  evolutionary  movement.  Deny  it  at  the 
bottom,  and  you  must  fail  to  get  it  all  the  way  up. 
Claim  it  for  the  philosopher,  and  the  claim  runs  down 
to  the  monad.  Animal  mind  presupposes  vegetal 
mind;  and  the  mental  rhythm  of  creation  is  dual. 
The  logical  result  of  denial  will  be  complete  skep- 
ticism, which  ultimately  must  hold  man  himself  as  a 
mere  machine — as,  indeed,  even  so  shrewd  a  thinker 
as  Huxley  has  already  boldly  urged.  AVere  there  no 
evidence  of  intelligence  in  low  forms,  based  on  obser- 
vation, we  should  need  to  infer  it  as  at  least  a  latent 
presence. 

2.  But  we  need  not  depend  upon  theoretical  con- 
sideration ;  ample  observation  establishes  the  connec- 
tion between  mind  and  even  the  simplest  life  beyond 
peradveuture.  One  may  of  course  claim,  that  to  infer 
intelligence  from  such  action  in  low  forms  as  would 
warrant  the  conclusion  in  human  beings,  is  unjustifi- 
able on  the  ground  of  the  relative  inferiority  of  the 
former.  The  difference,  however,  is  rather  of  quantity 
than  of  quality.     Purposive  and  ingenious  conduct  is 


16  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

quite  as  trustworthy  testimony  in  a  micro-organism, 
for  instance,  as  in  a  domestic  animal  or  a  human 
neiglibor.  The  surety  equals  at  least  that  of  any  ob- 
servation of  other  intelligence  than  our  own.  And  no 
living  form  fails  to  furnish  the  desired  evidence.  In 
this  chapter  will  be  cited  in  testimony  those  represent- 
atives of  life  which,  in  common  parlance,  are  named 
plants,  including  the  lowest  protophytes. 

3.  The  psychic  difference  between  plants  and  ani- 
mals is  simply  one  of  degree.  Vegetals  are  feebly  psy- 
chic, animals  intezisely  so.  To  begin  at  the  bottom, 
let  us  consider  the  slime-molds,  which  are  mere  naked 
masses  of  jellylike  matter,  chiefly  protoplasm,  that 
ooze  over  decayed  trunks  of  fallen  forest  trees  or  rot- 
ting bark  in  tannery  yards.  Thisolton  Dyer  claims  that 
this  inert,  formless,  f unctionless  substance  can  be  edu- 
cated to  the  extent,  at  least,  of  learning  to  accept  food 
at  first  rejected.  Moreover,  the  mass  at  some  time  in 
its  endless  existence  breaks  up  into  swarm  spores  and 
becomes  active,  with  no  little  indication  of  psychosis. 
All  a-quiver,  these  swarm  spores  react  upon  stimulus, 
and  dart  to  and  fro  seeking  food,  with  precision  and 
seeming  prevision,  until,  this  phase  of  life  passing, 
they  fuse  together  to  form  new  plasmodia.  A  very 
large  number  of  simple  plants  enjoy  a  similar  period 
of  swarming  and  intense  activity. 

4.  Scarcely  higher — perhaps  even  lower — in  the 
scale  are  the  microbes  of  putrefaction,  fermentation, 
and  disease.  P.  F.  Frankland,  in  a  popular  lecture  on 
these  forms,  claims  for  them  individuality  and  capacity 
for  education.  He  says  :  "  In  fact,  experimenting  with 
micro-organisms  partakes  rather  of  the  nature  of  legis- 
lating for  a  community  than  of  directing  the  inani- 


MIND  IN  PLANTS.  17 

mate  energies  of  chemical  molecules.  Thus  frequently 
the  past  history  of  a  group  of  micro-organisms  has  to 
be  taken  into  account  when  dealing  with  them  ;  for 
their  tendencies  may  have  become  greatly  modified  by 
the  experiences  of  their  ancestors."  However  this 
may  be,  it  is  now  known  that  bacteria  possess  an  oxy- 
gen sense,  by  which  they  detect  the  presence  of  oxygen 
at  a  distance  and  are  able  to  seek  it.  Moreover,  they 
can  gauge  the  quantity  of  this  gas,  and  if  it  prove  too 
intense  they  flee  it.  Engelmann  claims  that  bacteria 
can  detect  one  trillionth  of  a  milligramme  of  oxygen, 
or,  in  other  words,  a  solitary  molecule. 

5.  The  Desmids,  a  pretty  order  of  green  plants, 
each  of  but  one  cell,  possess  a  sunshine  sense.  We 
discover  no  pigment  spots,  but  without  failure  they 
find  the  sunny  side  of  the  tumbler  in  which  they  are 
imprisoned,  in  order  to  expose  to  the  sunbeams  their 
chlorophyl  and  work  their  simple  machinery  of  nutri- 
tive assimilation.  They  distinguish  light  from  dark- 
ness, and  in  the  light  find  the  sunbeam. 

6.  In  colonies  of  Pandorina,  a  higher  form,  some  of 
the  cells  possess  pigment  spots  that  serve  as  rude  eyes 
— not,  of  course,  for  vision,  but  simply  to  sense  the 
sunbeam.  While  the  Desmids  have  only  a  light  sense, 
Pandorina  has  a  light  sense  organ. 

7.  Many  colonies  of  one-cell  plants  show  a  sort  of 
affcrreofate  intelli2:ence.  These  are  veritable  confeder- 
acies,  not  organically  one,  but  dominated  by  a  common 
purpose  and  united  in  common  movements.  We  may 
still  have  swarm  spores  or  zoospoi'es,  and  a  motile 
period  and  mutual  attraction  and  fusion ;  but  there  is 
added  combination  for  security,  motion  and  nutrition. 
Oscillatoria  is  a  case  in  point ;  it  is  simply  a  cylindrical 


18  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

filament  of  cells,  each  shaped  like  a  pill  box  and  piled 
end  on  end.  Its  confederate  action  is  merely  a  sway- 
ing of  the  filament  to  and  fro  in  rhythmic  oscilla- 
tion. The  psychic  harmony  seems  based  upon  proto- 
plasmic contact. 

8.  More  surprising  are  those  combinations  of  cells 
which  form  not  so  much  confederacies  as  true  unions, 
with  organic  interharmony  and  public  functions,  also, 
doubtless,  based  on  protoplasmic  contact.  These  are 
often  spoken  of  as  (vegetal)  "  persons."  A  fine  exam- 
ple is  Volvox — a  beautiful  sphere  of  cells,  the  whole  no 
larger  than  the  point  of  a  pin.  There  are  twelve  thou- 
sand individuals,  each  with  two  protoplasmic  lashes 
called  cilia.  The  twenty-four  thousand  lashes  all  wave 
rhythmically,  and  the  community  rolls  through  the 
water  with  perfect  unity  of  purpose,  protoplasmic  con- 
tact of  individuals  enabling  the  whole  to  move  as  one 
creature.  Moreover,  this  confederacy  owns  common 
duties,  and  a  true  division  of  labor  subserves  the  com- 
mon end.  Some  of  the  cells  in  partnership  develop 
spermatozoids,  others  become  oospheres,  and,  through 
the  combination  of  the  two,  new  colonies  come  into 
being.  These  baby  volvoces  are  protected  during  ex- 
pansion within  the  hollow  globe,  until  set  free  by  the 
death  of  the  parent  colony.  The  older  sphere  rolls 
slowly  across  the  field  of  the  microscope,  within  it  re- 
volving the  spheres  of  the  future,  like  the  vision  of  the 
prophet,  "a  wheel  within  a  wheel."  Volvox  is  clearly 
swayed  by  protoplasmic  unity,  and  that  sway  is  psy- 
chic. 

9.  Tissue  plants  only  emphasize  the  same  unity  of 
plan  and  action,  controlled  by  forces  other  than  chem- 
ical and  physical.     And  we  no  longer  wonder  over  the 


MIND  IN    PLANTS.  19 

growth  of  a  fern  from  spore  to  frond,  or  of  a  palm 
from  cocoanut  to  plume,  or  of  an  oak  from  acorn  to 
leafy  crown.  In  all  these  cases  one  cell  multiplies  into 
many,  and  these  come  to  exhibit,  in  an  orderly  way, 
the  nicest  specialization  of  parts  and  division  of  labor 
and  concert  of  action,  all  on  a  plan  foreordained  in  the 
fertilized  ovuiji,  and  in  every  case  peculiar ;  and  each 
form,  thus  highly  organized,  lives  and  dies  as  one  per- 
son. Many  tissue  plants  seem  much  less  psychically 
active  than  those  which  are  microscopic,  but  the  psy- 
chic activity  is  only  latent ;  for  during  the  period  of 
fertilization  both  sperm  and  germ  cells  become  amse- 
boid  and  assume  a  motory  existence.  Often  the  sperm 
cells  are  true  spermatozoids,  and  not  only  very  active, 
but  with  display  of  instinct.  They  respond  to  stimulus, 
and  actively  seek  the  germ  cell  of  their  own  species, 
which  they  recognize  and  approach.  It  is  known  that 
the  spermatozoids  of  ferns  are  attracted  to  the  corre- 
sponding archegonia  of  the  prothallus  by  malic  acid, 
which  is  secreted  in  the  latter  to  attract  and  guide 
them.  Some  tissue  plants,  however,  are  intensely 
psychic  at  all  tiuies.  Some  are  exquisitely  sensitive, 
like  the  well-known  mimosa,  and  faint  at  a  touch. 
These  barely  fail  of  a  true  nervous  system,  their  pro- 
toplasm being  almost  as  sensitive  as  nerve  matter. 
Others  are  carnivorous  and  entrap  animalcules,  in- 
sects, etc.,  to  consume  them  as  food  ;  which  is  true  of 
the  bladderwort,  pitcher  plant,  Venus's  flytrap,  sun- 
dew, and  water  pitcher. 

10.  These  results  are  secured  somehow  by  the  ac- 
tual contact  of  all  the  protoplasms  combined.  Minute 
filaments  of  living  matter,  through  even  thick  walls  of 
cellulose,  connect  not  only  neighboring  cell  plasms. 


20  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR, 

but  even  the  cliromatin  of  neigliboring  nuclei.  A  net- 
work of  living  matter  explains  the  harmony  of  plan 
and  action. 

11.  All  tissue  plants  exhibit  what  is  called  geotro- 
pism — that  is,  their  stems  grow  upward  and  their  roots 
downward,  or  they  somehow  arrange  themselves  with 
reference  to  the  force  of  gravity.  Moreover,  some 
runners  and  some  rhizomes  grow  horizontally.  Some 
flowers  face  and  follow  the  sun.  Some  tendrils  reach 
out  for  support  and  about  it  twine  themselves.  Some 
plants  sleep  at  night,  allowing  their  tissues  to  become 
flaccid  and  to  droop.  All  these  movements  have  hith- 
erto been  explained  by  the  best  botanists  as  mechanical. 
A  closer  study  of  the  facts'  now  casts  doubt  upon  this 
far-fetched  solution ;  and  Francis  Darwin  does  not 
hesitate  to  ascribe  plant  movements,  like  those  of  ani- 
mals, to  irritability  aroused  by  stimulus. 


CHAPTER   II. 

MIND    IN    ANIMALS. 

1.  In  animals,  protoplasm  assumes  more  active 
habits,  mind  predominating  over  matter.  The  crea- 
ture on  its  entire  periphery  exhibits  sensitiveness  to 
stimulus  and  responds  in  appropriate  action,  showing 
feeling,  volition,  and  judgment.  It  is  active,  and  hence 
voracious;  predatory,  and  hence  ferocious. 

2.  Animals  of  one  cell,  or  protozoans,  invariably  put 
forth  motory  organs,  as  do  plants  in  their  motile  states. 
In  the  rudest,  these  organs  are  extemporized  out  of  the 
body  substance — mere  protrusions  or  false  feet  (pseudo- 


MIND  IN  ANIMALS.  .      21 

pods).  In  the  higher  they  become  quite  permanent 
lashes  {cilia)  or  whips  {flagella).  The  hishes  are  short 
and  delicate,  and  often  form  a  light  fringe.  The  whips 
are  long  and  powerful.  Both  are  composed  of  two 
united  filaments  of  protoplasm,  the  one  contractile  and 
the  other  elastic.  Hence  they  can  bend  and  rebound. 
Of  the  whips  there  are  two  kinds,  the  one  trailing  be- 
hind, the  other  extending  in  advance.  The  forward 
whip  is  used,  as  a  boy  uses  his  right  arm  when  swim- 
ming on  his  right  side,  to  draw  the  body  along.  The 
hinder  whip  serves  like  a  tadpole's  tail,  to  propel. 
These  members  secure  and  guide  the  animal's  move- 
ment when  in  search  for  food,  or,  by  creating  a  vortex 
in  the  water,  they  bring  in  the  food  from  a  distance, 
while  the  creature  remains  still. 

3.  Protozoans  have  the  rudiments  of  senses.  Thus 
all  have  the  power  of  touch  seemingly  on  the  entire 
periphery.  Probably  also  they  have  what  is  called 
"general  sense." 

4.  The  light  sense  is  well  developed  in  some  in- 
stances, localized  in  pigment  spots,  which  give  at  least 
a  perception  of  the  distinction  between  light  and  dark- 
ness, sunshine  and  shadow.  Euglena,  a  pretty  green 
infusory,  has  a  pigment  spot  of  bright  red,  which  is 
sensitive  to  light  and  enables  it  to  seek  the  sunbeam. 
As  this  is  one  of  the  chlorophyl  animalcules  with  a 
vegetable  habit,  of  course  light  is  necessary  to  its  ex- 
istence, and  the  organ  of  great  practical  value. 

5.  Even  the  sense  of  hearing  has  been  claimed,  at 
least  for  one  beautiful  ciliated  infusory — Loxodes  Ros- 
trum— which  exhibits  along  the  back  a  row  of  small 
organs  supposed  to  be  of  the  general  nature  of  audi- 
tory sacs. 


22  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

6.  They  may  or  may  not  have  smell  and  taste ;  but 
the  presumption  is  in  favor  of  at  least  smell,  in  view 
of  their  skill  in  finding  and  selecting  appropriate  food. 
They  certainly  show  in  this  regard  likes  and  dislikes ; 
and  then  some  are  herbivorous  and  some  carnivorous. 

7.  That  they  have  the  rudiments  of  sensation  and 
perception  follows  from  the  possession  and  use  of 
senses. 

8.  That  they  have  the  power  of  judgment  on  a  low 
scale  is  also  to  be  inferred  from  the  purposive  nature 
of  their  activity,  and  the  instinct,  experience  and  skill 
evinced  in  their  methods  of  life — as  in  the  pursuit  of 
food ;  some  go  in  quest  of  it,  some  draw  it  to  them 
by  creating  little  vortices  with  their  fringe  of  lashes. 
This  is  readily  studied  in  the  process  of  decomposition. 
After  the  bacteria  and  other  simplest  forms  have  caused 
extensive  decay  of  the  tissue,  a  creature  appears  on  the 
scene  armed  with  a  long,  rigid,  anterior  flagellum  ter- 
minating in  a  hook,  and  a  posterior  flexible  flagellum. 
It  anchors  itself  by  its  trail  and  then  successively  coil- 
ing and  uncoiling  the  flagellum,  darts  up  and  down  on 
the  decaying  substance.  This  iiifusory  is  succeeded  by 
a  group  that  hurl  themselves  on  the  putrid  tissue  and 
hammer  it  to  bits.  Finally,  a  gleaner  appears  and  de- 
vours the  scraps.  Each  form  comes  at  the  right  time, 
recognizes  the  presence  of  appropriate  nutriment, 
treats  the  food  in  a  skillful  manner,  ingeniously  sat- 
isfies its  needs,  and  sustains  life  until  changed  con- 
ditions force  out  of  existence  everything  but  its  dor- 
mant germs. 

9.  Or  take  their  methods  of  attack,  as  evincing  not 
only  thought  but  also  volition  and  feeling.  According 
to  Stein,  the  Bodo  Caudatus  combines  in  companies 


MIND  IN  ANlxMALS.  23 

of  ten,  twenty,  forty,  for  purposes  of  attack.  Like 
wolves,  these  little  flagellates  will  throw  themselves 
upon  animalcules  a  hundred  times  larger,  worry  them, 
tear  them  to  pieces  and  devour  the  huge  prey  piece- 
meal. Many  hunter  infusories  are  supplied  with  tri- 
chocysts,  by  means  of  which  they  wound,  stun,  and 
disable  their  quarry ;  while  other  more  peaceable  ani- 
malcules are  armed  with  the  same  weapons  to  be  used 
only  in  defense.  The  trichocysts  are  sharp  filaments, 
poisonous,  like  the  stings  of  nettles,  with  which  the 
parts  adjacent  to  the  mouth  supply  themselves  by  some 
internal  method  of  manufacture.  These  serve  as  darts 
and  are  shot  out  by  some  simple  mechanism  with  suf- 
ficient force  to  pierce.  The  attacked  animal,  wounded, 
is  paralyzed,  no  longer  tries  to  escape  and  is  easily 
devoured. 

10.  The  protozoans  are  in  some  cases,  as  with  Vor- 
ticella,  distinctly  male  and  female,  and  these  share  in 
the  usual  psychic  phenomena  of  sex.  It  is  said  they 
make  love  and  indulge  in  coquetries,  the  male  seeking 
and  the  female  exercising  choice. 

11.  Communal  instincts  show  themselves  in  the 
groupings  of  protozoans  into  colonies.  Thus  Vorti- 
celJa  may  in  the  same  genus  occur  with  one  species  in 
separate  individuals,  and  with  another  in  a  compound 
arrangement ;  and  in  the  compound  arrangement  there 
is  not  only  individual  but  communal  sensibility. 

12.  Metazoans  are  protozoans  complicated  by  de- 
velopment and  evolution  ;  for  every  metazoan  begins 
its  life-history  as  a  protozoan,  and  must  have  arisen  in 
the  combination  of  a  number  of  single  cells  of  com- 
mon ancestry.  The  simplest  conceivable  form  of  meta- 
zoan is  that  of  a  double  sheet  of  cells  rounded  into  a 


24  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

pouch.  The  inner  cells  become  nutritive,  the  outer 
serve  for  sensation ;  and  the  whole  creature  is  a  true 
federal  union  descended  from  one  egg  cell.  Prom 
this  simple  scheme,  by  growth  and  specialization,  all 
elaborations  of  animal  shape  and  function  are  pos- 
sible. 

13.  Protozoans  show  tendency  in  many  genera  to 
become  metazoan.  Thus  in  the  genus  Zouthaninium, 
while  some  species  are  mere  colonies  (simplex,  nutans), 
others  are  true  federations  (arbuscuki,  aUernans). 

14.  The  intelligence  of  metazoans  is  now  so  gener- 
ally admitted  by  scientists  that  we  need  not  carry  the 
argument  further.  Presuming  that  the  psychic  factor 
is  here  acknowledged,  it  seems  important  rather  to  ex- 
pend energy  upon  its  elaborate  methods  of  assertion. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   NEKVOUS   STSTEil. 

1.  The  growing  complexity  of  metazoans,  as  we 
ascend  the  scale  of  animal  existence,  ere  we  proceed 
far,  necessitates  the  specializing  of  certain  cells  to 
regulate  the  others.  Protoplasmic  unity  of  all  the 
cells  fails  to  meet  the  demands  that  arise  for  nice  co- 
ordination and  vigorous  purposive  action.  The  psychic 
factor  itself,  now  that  many  individual  cells  are  cum- 
bered with  special  functions,  demands  an  organ.  The 
little  union  has  become  so  complex  in  its  public  duties 
and  interrelations  that  there  needs  not  only  consensus 
and  harmony,  but  authoritative  government. 

2.  For  this,  nerve  cells  are  set  apart.     These,  how- 


TUE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM.  25 

ever,  seem  to  have  no  properties  unpossessed  by  proto- 
plasm in  general ;  indeed,  they  are  only  commonplace 
individuals  specialized  to  perform  certain  difficult 
functions — just  as  a  president,  a  senator,  or  a  gov- 
ernor is,  after  all,  only  an  American  citizen,  in  no  wise 
different  from  farmers,  traders  and  mechanics,  except 
in  the  fact  that  he  is  set  to  govern  all  the  rest.  Nerve 
cells  are  of  various  shapes — spheroidal,  ovoidal,  trian- 
gular, etc.,  and  have  nucleus  and  nucleolus. 

3.  In  its  rudest  form  the  nerve  cell  has  no  attach- 
ment, and  exerts  a  direct  control  over  adjacent  indi- 
viduals by  mere  protoplasmic  contact,  as  in  Hydra, 
In  general,  however,  it  exhibits  processes — one,  two,  or 
many — which  are  called  nerves,  and  themselves,  prob- 
ably, are  elongated  cells  end  to  end. 

4.  At  its  simplest  a  nerve  is  a  protoplasmic  fibril 
and  nothincr  more.  In  animals  well  innervated  it  be- 
comes  a  fiber,  composed  of  many  such  fibrils,  or  it  may 
be  a  bundle  of  such  fibers.  In  the  higher  vertebrates, 
where  dense  masses  of  nerve  cells  and  infinite  com- 
plexity of  interrelations  require  it,  the  fibers  are  often 
united  in  skeins  and  the  skeins  in  cables.  A  vast 
number  of  fibers  may  be  in  one  so-called  nerve. 
Thus,  in  the  motor  nerve  of  the  human  tongue  are 
full  five  thousand  fibers  and  many  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  fibrils.  In  what  we  call  the  optic  nerve — in 
reality  an  optic  cable — are  no  less  than  one  hundred 
thousand  fibers  and  many  millions  of  fibiils. 

5.  In  the  vertebrates  (except  in  the  sympathetic 
system)  nerves  are  insulated  by  two  layers  of  non- 
conducting material  up  to  near  their  terminations 
and  are  divided  lengthwise  by  nodes  somewhat  like 
a  cane  or  rattan  stalk.    All  human  nerves  are  supplied 

3 


26  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

with  what  seem  to  be  re-enforcing  cells — relay  bat- 
teries— here  and  there  along  the  line. 

6.  The  function  of  nerves  is  simply  to  convey  im- 
pulses received  either  at  the  center  or  on  the  periphery. 
Hence  they  connect  a  nerve  cell  with  another  such 
cell  or  wjfth  an  end  organ.  In  passing  through  inter- 
mediary nerve  cells  the  composing  fibrils  spread  out 
from  pole  to  pole  against  the  inner  surface  of  the  cell 
wall,  so  as  to  inclose  the  cell  protoplasm.  Hence 
nerves  are  said  to  be  efferent  or  afferent,  according 
as  they  conduct  energy  from  the  centers  to  the  periph- 
ery or  the  contrary.  This  division  of  labor  is  not 
based  -upon  any  essential  difference  in  composition 
and  it  is  likely  that  both  kinds  are  able  to  convey  im- 
pulses in  either  direction. 

7.  The  energy,  like  other  forms  of  motion,  is  a 
transformation  in  this  case  of  chemical  affinity  if  from 
within,  or  of  the  impinging  energy  if  from  without. 
It  is  one  motion  converted  into  another,  probably  by 
the  nerve  cells,  but  become  peculiar  to  itself,  and  quite 
different  in  physical  properties  from  light,  or  heat,  or 
electricity. 

In  man  a  sensory  impulse  has  been  calculated  to 
travel  at  a  speed  of  from  one  hundred  to  three  hun- 
dred feet  a  second.  Moreover,  the  number  of  im- 
pulses that  may  thus  travel  during  one  second  is  very 
great.  By  stimulation  with  the  wires  of  a  telephone, 
it  has  been  shown  by  D'Arsonville  tliat  a  nerve  can 
transmit  upward  of  five  thousand  vibrations  per  sec- 
ond, and  that  the  wave-forms  may  be  so  perfect 
that  the  complex  electrical  waves  produced  in  tlie 
telephone  by  the  vowel  sounds  can  be  reproduced 
in  the  sound  of  a  muscle  after  having  been  trans- 


THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM.  27 

latcd  into  uerve  vibrations   and  transmitted  along  a 
nerve. 

8.  It  is  the  nerve  cell  that  stores  np  complex  and 
unstable  material  derived  from  food,  and  by  exploding 
this  releases  the  needed  energy.  Morgan  likens  this 
complex  material  to  a  building  of  wooden  blocks 
erected  by  a  child,  which,  the  more  elaborate  it  be- 
comes, the  more  unstable  it  is,  until  a  Jar  or  a  touch 
shatters  the  edifice,  liberating  the  stored-up  energy  of 
position  acquired  by  the  blocks  in  building.  AVe  may 
also  liken  a  nerve  cell  to  a  pistol  loaded — a  touch  on 
the  trigger  discharges  it.  Or  it  is  a  galvanic  battery, 
and  the  costly  stored-up  material  is  the  zinc,  to  be  con- 
sumed when  the  current  is  closed  and  the  imprisoned 
energy  is  released. 

The  shock  may  be  very  violent,  as  in  the  case  of 
Sulla,  who  is  said  to  have  died  of  an  explosion  of  wrath  ; 
or  of  Leo  X,  who  fell  a  victim  to  an  outburst  of  joy.  It 
has  been  ascertained  that  bee  drones  perish  in  the  act 
of  sexual  intercourse,  slain  by  the  shock  of  passion, 
and  not,  as  formerly  asserted,  by  ruthless  action  of  the 
queen. 

9.  A  nervous  system  is  a  series  of  two  or  more 
nerve  cells  witli  appropriate  connections  ;  it  may  be 
very  simple  or  it  may  be  very  intricate.  A  typical  sys- 
tem is  a  solitary  psychic  cell  connected  by  two  proto- 
plasmic filaments  with  a  sensory  and  with  a  motor 
surface,-but  any  variation  on  this  is  possible. 

As  nerve  systems  become  elaborate,  they  them- 
selves need  eentral  control,  hence  centers  simply  for 
co-ordination  of  such  centers;  these  may  be  termed 
co-ordinating  organs. 

10.  Nerve  cells  are  capable  of  three  kinds  of  action  : 


28  THE  PSYCUIC  FACTOR. 

(1)  Automatic.  The  word  explains  itself,  and  a 
good  illustration  will  be  found  in  the  cells  that  control 
the  beating  of  the  heart.  A  frog's  heart  after  excision 
will  yet  throb  some  time,  because  the  ganglia  that  con- 
trol the  action  accompany  it. 

(2)  Keflex — that  is,  in  response  to  stimulus  come 
in  on  some  nerve.  A  pinch  of  snuff,  and  the  resulting 
sueeze,  will  serve  for  illustration. 

(3)  Inhibitory.  Where  one  nerve  cell  prevents  or 
restrains  action  in  another.  Stimulate  the  vagus,  and 
the  action  of  the  heart  is  arrested.  Atropine  paralyzes 
this  inhibitory  influence,  muscarine  stimulates  it.  If 
from  any  cause  the  smaller  arterial  vessels  become  con- 
stricted, and  the  heart  in  forcing  blood  through  them 
be  required  to  work  with  greater  effort,  and  so  in  dan- 
ger of  exhaustion,  the  depressor  which  connects  the 
heart  with  the  vasomotor  center  inhibits  or  depresses 
this  center  and  obliges  it  to  dilate  the  vessels,  and  so 
remove  the  cause  of  the  embarrassment. 

The  entire  nervous  system  is  such  a  marvel  of  com- 
plex harmony,  capable  of  intelligent  supervision  of  its 
own  operations  at  every  point. 

11.  Four  laws  govern  the  action  of  nerve  cells  and 
systems  : 

(1)  Of  specialization — that  is,  of  specific  function 
for  every  element.  Of  course,  in  simple  forms,  the 
function  may  be  much  more  general  than  in  the  more 
complex.  The  law  becomes  more  and  more  emphatic 
as  we  ascend  the  scale,  until  in  man  specialization  is 
carried  to  the  extreme. 

(2)  The  law  of  habit.  Energy  here,  as  everywhere, 
follows  the  lines  of  least  resistance.  Psychic  action 
carves  out  physical  channels  in  the  process  of  time 


THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM.  29 

and  flows  in  thera  as  a  matter  of  course.  As  Carpen- 
ter puts  it,  the  nerve  system  "  grows  to  "  the  modes 
in  which  it  has  been  exercised  ;  or,  to  vary  the  iHustra- 
tion,  nerve  matter,  like  paper,  folds  most  easily  in  the 
old  wrinkles.  Indeed,  it  is  claimed  by  evolutionists 
that  nerve  fibrils  owe  their  origin,  in  the  gradual  de- 
veloj^ment  of  systems,  to  this  very  law  ;  lines  of  motion 
following  paths  of  least  resistance  occasion  neural 
trails.  The  trails  become  fibrils  or  filaments  of  cells 
end  to  end,  specialized  as  neural  highways. 

(3)  The  law  of  duration.  Nerve  reactions  are  far 
from  instantaneous,  and  can  easily  be  measured.  It 
takes  time  for  a  stimulus  at  the  periphery  to  reach  the 
center,  time  for  the  center  to  receive  the  impulse  and 
to  respond,  time  for  an  execution  of  the  motory  result. 
The  moment  elapsing  between  a  stimulus  and  its  result 
is  called  "  reaction  time,"  and  is  different  for  different 
individuals  and  for  differing  moods  of  the  same  indi- 
vidual. Much  labor  has  been  put  forth  in  its  careful 
estimation,  especially  in  Germany ;  but  the  results  so 
far  have  been  disappointing  in  the  matter  of  important 
discovery. 

(4)  Conservation  of  energy.  The  nerve  systems 
exert  no  force  not  derived ;  their  motions  are  previous 
motions  converted.  Their  explosions  are  exhaustive 
and  their  wasted  energies  must  be  redintegrated. 
Hence  all  complicated  centers  are  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  nutriment.  The  brain,  during  action,  is 
suffused  with  nourishing  blood.  The  immediate  con- 
comitant of  an  effort  at  hard  thought  or  intense  feel- 
ing, or  vigorous  willing,  is  a  rush  of  blood  to  the 
ganglia  in  use  ;  and  so  if  one  be  hungry,  weary,  or 
angemic,  the  effort  is  likely  to  prove  feeble.     Centers 


30  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

can  not  generate  force  of  themselves,  but  can  only  use 
such  energy  as  the  nutritive  apparatus  supplies.  Hence, 
for  vigorous  psychosis,  the  need  for  substantial  food 
well  digested. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A    SUEVEY    OF   NEllVE    SYSTEMS   IN   THE   ORDER   OF 

COMPLEXITY. 

1.  Peotozoans,  as  we  have  seen,  have  no  nerve 
systems,  but  their  single  cell  is  itself  the  prototype  of 
the  nerve  cell,  possessing,  at  least  in  germ,  all  the 
qualities  of  automatic  and  sensitive  life  which  the 
latter  attains. 

2.  The  first  appearance  of  cells  specialized  for  sen- 
sory-motor control  is  found  in  Ilydra^  one  of  the  sim- 
plest of  the  metazoans,  which  is  yet  complex  enough 
to  require  central  control ;  it  has  nutritive,  sensitive, 
combative  and  generative  cells,  and  in  addition  a  few 
psychic ;  these  however  without  processes.  Hydra- 
form  metazoans  go  no  further  on  this  line  of  evolution. 

3.  Medusaform  metazoans,  which  are  simply  an 
elaboration  of  the  hydraform,  develop  a  more  exten- 
sive nerve  apparatus.  Thus  the  medusas  of  Bougain- 
villia  present  a  central  and  a  peripheral  system,  the 
former  a  double  ring  of  nerve  cells,  the  latter  scattered 
nerve  cells,  and  both  connected  with  pigment  spots, 
muscle  fibers  and  sensitive  ectoderm  by  filaments. 
The  higher  medusae  perfect  this  simple  arrangement 
and  add  olfactory  tracts  to  rude  eyes  (or  ears).  Cut  a 
hydra  into  bits  and  each  part  will  restore  a  whole 
creature.     The  specialization  is  not  complete  enough 


NERVE  SYSTEMS  IN  ORDER  OF  COMPLEXITY.    31 

to  cripple  tlic  goncnitive  and  formative  iudepcndencc 
of  each  cell.  But  if  you  slice  off  the  nerve  ring  of  a 
medusa,  what  remains  of  the  animal  is  thereby  para- 
lyzed, and  will  soon  die.  Specialization  cripples  cell 
independence  and  though  reflex  action  on  stimulation 
of  peripheral  centres  occurs,  automatism  ceases. 

4.  The  next  higher  order  of  radiated  metazoans 
(the  Actinozoa)  improve  somewhat  on  medusaform. 
Coral  polyps,  sea-pens,  anemones  and  the  like  possess 
in  some  cases  rudimentary  eyes  and  ears,  with  corre- 
sponding co-ordinative  organs,  but  with  similar  lim- 
itations. 

5.  The  Ecliinodermata  —  sea  nrchins,  starfishes, 
crinoids,  etc. — also  group  the  nerve  centers  in  a  ring 
about  the  mouth.  There  are  ganglia  for  each  ray, 
connected  together  by  fdaments,  and  from  each  gan- 
glion there  arc  radiating  nerves.  Thus  the  creature  has 
as  many  little  brains  as  rays ;  these,  however,  though 
acting  in  concert,  must  not  be  conceived  of  as  entirely 
dependent.  Cut  out  one  segment  of  a  starfish  and  it 
will  thrive  very  well,  under  its  own  local  control.  The 
brains  are  harmonized,  but  not  co-ordinated  by  any  su- 
preme center.  Hence  the  radiated  animals  have  not 
attained  any  very  high  grade  of  intelligence. 

6.  A  more  hopeful  plan  has  proved  that  of  the  ar- 
ticulated animals,  whose  bodies  are  made  up  of  seg- 
ments— worms,  ccntipeds,  etc. ;  each  segment  is  liko 
the  previous  one  and  each  has  a  very  simple  nerve 
system  connected  with  all  the  others  by  double  fila- 
ments. The  chain  of  cells  is  ventral,  and  a  pair  of 
ganglia  for  each  segment.  Here  the  system  is  of  the 
simplest,  but  it  is  reduplicated.  And  now  we  are  iu 
the  line  of  royal  succession. 


32  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

7.  An  improvement  on  this  appears  in  certain  of 
those  worms  which  have  cephalic  ganglia,  the  twin 
nerves  rising  and  dividing  to  allow  the  oesophagus  to 
pass  through,  and  ending  above  in  one  or  more  highly 
psychic  cells.  In  this  arrangement  segments  are  still 
independently  active.  Cut  ofi  the  head  of  a  centiped 
while  walking,  and  its  body  will  continue  to  move  on- 
ward ;  cut  the  body  into  three  or  four  parts,  and  the 
same  result  will  obtain.  Let  the  headless  end  strike 
an  insurmountable  obstacle  and,  while  of  course  the 
motion  ceases,  the  legs  will  continue  to  strive  in 
attempted  propulsion.  The  cephalic  ganglia  supply 
only  needed  general  direction ;  when  the  other  nerve 
centers  are  destroyed,  these  fail  of  instruction  from 
headquarters  and  are  like  a  company  of  soldiers  in 
battle  whose  officers  have  been  killed. 

8.  Among  the  insects  this  scheme  becomes  much 
more  elaborate,  and  the  cephalic  ganglia  much  more 
numerous  and  complicated,  with  an  immense  stride  in 
psychic  energy.  Thus  the  ants  possess  a  real  brain, 
large  in  proportion  to  their  size  and  bearing  some 
faint  resemblance  to  that  of  the  vertebrates ;  and  they 
seem  to  have  carried  the  type  they  represent  to  nearly 
its  full  ideal  development.  Still,  we  are  hardly  pre- 
pared by  the  visible  anatomy  of  an  ant's  head  for  the 
astounding  unfoldings  of  mind  manifest  in  its  life's 
history.  Sir  John  Lubbock,  who  has  made  a  lifelong 
study  of  these  insects,  declares  that  they  rank  in  intelr 
ligence  next  to  man.  He  has  discovered  that  they 
possess  character,  and  are  some  timid  and  some  bold, 
some  born  to  lead  and  some  to  follow,  some  thievish, 
some  greedy,  some  phlegmatic.  If  they  fail  of  a  lan- 
guage, they   at  least  transfer  intelligence  readily  by 


NERVE  SYSTEMS  IN  ORDER  OF  COMPLEXITY.    33 

crossing  antennae.  This  has  enabled  the  organization 
of  quite  complicated  social  systems,  with  the  virtues 
of  public  spirit,  ueighborliness  and  patriotism  carried 
to  the  utmost  limit  of  personal  abandon.  In  some 
species  distinct  classes  have  evolved — warriors,  work- 
ers and  slaves.  Communal  industries  flourish  ;  many 
kinds  keep  aphides  and  regularly  "  milk  "  them  for 
their  honey  ;  Lasius  flavus  preserves  in  its  nest  dur- 
ing the  winter  eggs  of  these  lice,  hatches  out  young 
by  a  sort  of  incubator  process,  and  in  the  spring 
stocks  appropriate  trees  Avitli  them,  quite  as  men  breed 
cattle,  stall  them  and  then  send  them  out  to  pasture. 
In  western  Texas,  Myrmica  harhata  clears  a  tract  of 
ground  about  four  feet  square  around  its  city,  and  from 
this  garden  spot  all  plants  are  rooted  np,  and  all  stones 
and  rubbish  removed ;  a  variety  of  millet  is  now  sown, 
weeds  that  spring  up  extirpated  and  marauding  insects 
warned  off;  when  mature,  the  crop  is  reaped  and 
stored  away  in  granaries  within  the  nest,  for  w^inter 
consumption.  The  j^arasol  or  leaf-cutting  ants  of 
Trinidad  plant  a  fungus  garden  and  nourish  them- 
selves on  the  proceeds  of  their  labor.  Many  species 
keep  slaves,  who  do  all  the  hard  and  dirty  work; 
these  are  seized  in  their  homes,  in  the  larva  or  pupa 
form,  during  great  forays  and  often  amid  bloody  bat- 
tle, and  are  brought  in  the  jaws  of  their  captors  to 
their  new  abodes,  where  they  are  taught  to  serve  and 
wait ;  ai^  there  are  good  and  there  are  bad  masters. 
The  foraging  ants  of  South  America  make  incursions, 
sometimes  in  dense  Macedonian  phalanx,  sometimes 
in  light  detached  columns ;  they  send  out  scouts,  sur- 
vey routes,  convey  to  one  another  information  and 
form  camps,  quite  as  though  human  beings  ;  every  few 


34:  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

days  they  arrange  new  camps,  like  the  cruel  robbers 
they  are,  move  to  and  fro  over  the  country,  according 
to  the  exigencies  of  their  predatory  existence.  The 
ingenuity  exercised  by  tliese  formidable  barbarians  in 
overcoming  obstacles  encountered  on  the  march  is 
said  to  be  astounding.  Thus,  in  crossing  a  crumbling 
slope,  which  was  gradually  disintegrating  under  the 
passage  of  the  army,  a  portion  of  the  band,  by  adher- 
ing to  each  other,  formed  a  solid  pathway  over  which 
the  others  passed  safely ;  a  twig  formed  a  bridge 
across  a  small  rill,  but  this  proving  insufficient  for 
the  transit  of  the  host,  it  was  widened  by  ants  clinging 
to  each  side  of  the  twig. 

There  seems  no  end  to  these  wonders,  nor  any 
good  reason  for  not  comparing  such  intelligence  favor- 
ably with  that  of  the  Australian  bushmen,  the  Ved- 
dahs  of  Ceylon,  or  the  pygmies  found  by  Stanley  in 
the  African  forests.  From  the  psychological  stand- 
point these  facts  are  to  the  highest  degree  significant. 

9.  The  nerve  system  of  articulated  animals  is  im- 
proved upon  by  a  fusion  of  the  chain  of  ganglia  into 
a  continuous  mass  or  "  cord."  This  appears  in  the 
lowest  of  the  vertebrates,  and  is  supported  by  a  flexible 
fibro-vascular  rod  called  a  notochord.  Amphioxus,  a 
stupid,  senseless  little  creature,  and  certain  genera  of 
fishes,  are  so  equipped ;  and  the  embryos  of  all  higher 
vertebrates  pass  through  this  notochord  stage.  But  the 
latter  in  time  develop  a  true  vertebral  column  embrac- 
ing in  its  bony  canal  the  spinal  cord. 

10.  The  spinal  cord  is  found  to  enlarge  at  points 
where  its  resources  are  severely  taxed  by  limbs  or  sen- 
sory organs.  In  Amphioxus,  which  has  no  limbs,  and 
few  if  any  sense  organs,  and  the  lowest  fishes  with 


NERVE  SYSTEMS  IN  ORDER  OF  COMPLEXITY.    35 

cartilaginous  skeletons  and  a  uniform  wormlike  body, 
the  cord  presents  the  same  general  appearance  at  every 
point ;  but  in  fishes  endowed  with  powerful  fins  and 
some  intelligence  there  are  corresponding  local  en- 
largements. These  great  and  continuous  bodies  of 
nerve  matter  are  unaccompanied  by  much  psychic 
energy,  as  they  serve  simply  to  co-ordinate  correspond- 
ingly large  masses  of  end  organ  and  muscle. 

11.  The  enlargement  of  the  cephalic  portion  of  the 
cord  first  in  fishes  produces  a  true  brain.  A  brain  is 
thus  a  cephalic  collection  of  specialized  ganglia ;  its 
appearance  signalizes  the  presence  of  energetic  psychic 
activity.  In  its  lowest  forms  a  brain  is  composed  of 
very  simple  sensory  and  motor  ganglia,  and  the  verte- 
brate so  endowed  is  far  below  bees  and  ants.  As  ce- 
phalic ganglia  become  complicated,  they  themselves 
need  co-ordination — hence  centers  for  brain  co-ordi- 
nation. Over  the  sensorium  rises  a  cerebellum,  and 
over  that  a  cerebrum. 

13.  In  all  but  the  lowest  of  the  fishes  we  have  a 
distinctly  marked  cerebellum,  double  optic  and  olfac- 
tory lobes,  with  two  diminutive  cerebral  hemispheres. 
The  development  of  the  cerebrum  now  significantly 
marks  the  progress  of  intelligence.  In  Amphibia  the 
hemispheres  are  relatively  larger  than  in  fishes.  In 
reptiles  they  push  backward,  in  birds  both  forward 
and  backward.  Anterior  lobes  of  the  cerebrum  only 
are  found  in  egg-laying  vertebrates.  First  in  placen- 
tal mammals  appears  that  great  body  of  connecting 
fibers  uniting  the  hemispheres  and  called  the  corpus 
callosum.  Rodents  give  us  the  earliest  indication  of 
middle  lobes  distinct  from  the  anterior.  Monkeys 
develop  posterior  lobes,  and  these  the  anthropoid  apes 


36  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

emphasize.  Only  in  the  more  elaborate  mammals  do 
these  fold  in  and  form  convolutions  ;  the  hemispheres 
now  divided  and  convoluted  quite  cover  the  cerebellum 
and  the  medulla,  and  a  foreliead  occasioned  by  en- 
larged masses  of  ganglia  may  be  perceived.  At  last  we 
have  the  human  brain  with  a  cerebrum  whose  cortex 
is  folded  into  fissures  and  crevasses,  until  its  surface  is 
doubled,  and  with  correlated  ganglia  aggregating  full 
six  hundred  million  nerve  cells,  and  probably  a  much 
larger  number  of  nerve  fibers. 


CHAPTER  V. 

GENERAL    REFLECTIONS    UPON    THE    PSYCHIC    FACTOR 
COMPARATIVELY    VIEWED. 

1.  Living  matter  can  always  be  described  in  lan- 
guage of  mind. 

2.  The  ascent — from  simple  to  complex — is  marked 
by  an  ever-increasing  specialization  of  cells  for  psychic 
functions,  enlarged  function  in  general  indicated  by 
enlarged  ganglia.  Animals  that  depend  much  upon 
vision  are  sui'e  to  display  extensive  optic  lobes,  those 
living  by  scent  great  olfactory  tracts.  Birds  that  use 
wings  for  flight,  in  the  corresponding  vertebral  gan- 
glia show  significant  increase  in  size,  while  those  that 
depend  exclusively  upon  the  legs  for  locomotion  indi- 
cate this  by  the  swelling  of  the  spinal  cord  lower 
down. 

3.  As  a  rule,  the  more  nerve  centers  the  more  men- 
tal functions.  Each  specialization  means  a  corre- 
sponding dexterity  in  the  psychic   factor.     Co-ordi- 


GENERAL  REFLECTIONS.  37 

nating  lobes  counterbalance  diversity  and  restore  per- 
sonal unity  to  organisms  that  would  be  otherwise 
overspecialized ;  hence  these  indicate  high  intelli- 
gence. 

4.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  increase  in 
the  size  of  ganglia  may  be  owing  to  mere  enlargement 
of  bulk  ;  in  this  case  massiveness  is  not  significant. 
Both  the  elephant  and  the  whale  in  brain  weight  ex- 
cel man;  but  this  size  is  only  the  correlative  of  bodily 
bigness.  It  is  the  relative  weight  of  nerve  matter  that 
signifies. 

5.  And  even  the  relative  weight  is  deceptive,  with- 
out regard  to  quality.  Many  apes  possess  more  brain 
than  man  in  proportion  to  avoirdupois,  the  difference 
being  in  quality.  The  brain  of  the  ant  is,  .as  we  have 
seen,  an  instance  of  the  remarkable  possibilities  of 
even  minute  particles  of  nerve  matter.  We  may  safe- 
ly say  that  the  amount,  complexity  and  quality  of 
mind,  in  a  general  way,  correspond  with  the  amount, 
complexity  and  quality  of  nerve  matter.  It  is  sound 
psychology  to  speak  of  a  "  brainy  man,"  and  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  was  right  when  he  declared  that  the 
world  had  always  been  swayed  by  men  of  "  big  heads 
and  big  bellies." 

6.  Added  ganglia  often  re-enforce  those  previously 
existing,  by  contributing  higher  potentialities.  At 
least  four  or  five  of  the  basal  lobes  of  the  human  brain 
are  united  in  the  work  of  co-ordinating  muscular 
movements  with  sensation.  All  the  great  nerves  of 
sense  spring  from  two  or  more  roots,  imbedded  often 
in  quite  different  soils;  thus  the  optic  nerve  arises  by 
different  roots  from  the  optic  thalamus,  corpora  quad- 
rigemina  and  geuiculata,  to  say  nothing  of  adveuti- 

1  A  A  Q  'I  a 


38  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

tioiis  roots  connecting  one  tract  with  the  other.  This 
means  that  the  apparatus  for  innervating  eyes  in  the 
lower  animals,  in  the  higher  is  re-enforced  with  new 
potentialities.  It  is  very  clear  that  eyes,  ears,  etc., 
are  far  more  varied  in  endowment  with  mammals 
than  with  articulates,  radiates  and  mollusks. 

7.  Nerve  masses  which  were  once  centers  of  con- 
sciousness, as  more  elaborate  organs  appear,  work  au- 
tomatically or  in  a  merely  reflex  activity,  jhnphioxus 
does  all  its  thinking  with  its  spinal  cord ;  but  verte- 
brates that  have  risen  to  the  dignity  of  a  brain,  use 
the  spinal  cord  only  for  reflex,  conductory,  and  auto- 
matic work.  Conscioysuess  with  each  step  upward 
becomes  more  comprehensive  and  intense,  rising  to 
higher  outlooks  upon  the  universe  and  more  subtle 
and  complex  intellection,  but  seemingly  withdrawing 
itself  from  regulation  of  the  lowly  functions  of  mere 
bodily  existence,  which  fall  to  the  realm  of  all  but  the 
higliest  centers. 

We  may  in  ourselves  observe  this  withdrawal  in 
constant  operation.  We  learn  in  childhood  to  walk, , 
with  much  painful  education  of  I'eluctant  nerve  cen- 
ters ;  but  in  boyhood  already  walking  has  ceased  to  be 
a  matter  of  conscious  regulation.  One  is  taught  to 
ride  a  bicycle  with  many  woful  episodes  of  inexpe- 
rience, as  a  necessary  concomitant  of  the  intensely 
conscious  process;  in  time  the  bicycle  becomes  part  of 
the  rider,  and  he  now  recognizes  passing  friends,  en- 
joys the  scenery  and  muses  undisturbed  as  he  skims 
along.  The  same  is  true  of  reading,  singing,  piano- 
playing,  and  even  of  preaching  and  praying  ;  the  cen- 
ters run  themselves.  In  these  cases  consciousness  has 
by  no  means  withdrawn  wholly,  but  it  evidently  tends 


GENERAL  REFLECTIONS.  39 

to  do  so ;  give  it  ages  of  evolution,  and  it  might  do  so 
entirely. 

8.  This  withdrawal  in  no  wise  interferes  with  the 
automatic  and  reflex  performance  of  duty  on  the  part 
of  lower  centers.  We  have  seen  that  to  cut  off  a 
centiped's  head  does  no  more  than  remove  control ; 
the  after  ganglia  operate  normally.  A  frog  from 
whom  the  cerebral  lobes  have  been  removed  will  swim, 
leap,  crawl  and  croak ;  it  is  sensitive  to  light,  but  is 
stupid  and  listless,  its  life  but  a  dream.  Even  a 
rabbit  so  operated  on  will  stand,  run  and  leap,  start, 
tremble,  cry  if  pinched  and  seek  the  light ;  but  it  is 
torpid,  its  consciousness  that  of  sleep.  A  bird  thus 
maimed  will  pick  up  food,  drink,  fly,  clean  its  feathers, 
avoid  obstacles  and  start  at  sharp  sounds  or  flashes  of 
light,  but  is  dull  and  sleepy ;  nay,  it  is  asleep,  only 
the  lower  ganglia  present  and  active. 

Human  beings  have  in  many  instances  lost  large 
masses  of  brain  matter  without  serious  impairment  of 
faculties.  Lallemand  narrates  the  case  of  a  person 
of  average  intelligence  in  whose  cerebrum  the  right 
hemisphere  was  found  after  death  to  have  been  filled 
with  only  a  serous  fluid.  Boyer  tells  of  an  epileptic 
child  of  usual  brightness  whose  entire  temporal  lobe 
on  the  left  side  was  found  to  have  been  destroyed.  A 
premature  discharge  of  blasting  powder  on  a  certain 
occasion  sent  a  crowbar  through  the  head  of  a  young 
American ;  entering  at  the  left  angle  of  the  jaw  and 
passing  through  the  top  of  the  head,  it  was  picked  up 
some  distance  off  smeared  with  blood  and  brains.  The 
stunned  youth  recovered  in  a  few  minutes,  ascended  a 
flight  of  stairs,  gave  an  intelligible  account  of  the  loss 
to  a  surgeon  and  continued  to  live  for  over  twelve 


40  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

years,  witli  no  impairment  of  his  sensory  or  motory 
powers.  Human  infants  born  without  other  brain 
than  the  medulla  have  been  known  to  live  for  hours, 
crying  and  sucking, 

9.  Ganglia  may  act  vicariously.  When  a  nerve 
center  is  destroyed  a  neighboring  center  often  can  and 
sometimes  does  assume  its  role  ;  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  nerve  cells,  after  all,  are  only  protoplasmic 
elements  specialized,  and  that  they  preserve  somewhat 
of  the  power  of  general  adaptation  to  environment  and 
stimulus.  Just  as  a  factory  hand,  who  all  his  life  has 
devoted  himself  to  some  one  little  operation  in  the 
making  of  shoes,  watches  or  sewing  machines,  yet  can, 
if  necessary — though  doubtless  crippled  by  such  mo- 
notonous activity — do  many  other  things. 

10.  The  evolution  of  mind  displays  a  marvelous 
unity  in  diversity.  At  the  beginning  of  the  individual 
life,  and  at  bottom  of  the  psychic  scale,  we  have 
nothing  greater  than  the  living  cell ;  and  at  the  end 
of  the  individual  life  and  at  the  top  of  the  psychic 
scale,  there  is  nothing  greater  than  the  living  cell ; 
there  is  no  break  in  unity,  and  only  growing  diversity 
Avith  three  great  leaps. 

The  three  leaps  are:  (1)  The  appearance  of  pro- 
toplasm in  form  of  cells.  This  made  structure  possi- 
ble. (2)  The  specializing  of  cells.  This  made  func- 
tion possible.  (3)  The  co-ordinating  of  functions. 
This  made  all  degrees  of  mental  attainment  possible. 

11.  Mark  the  progress  in  its  results.  First  single 
cells  with  a  psychic  factor  and  conscious  of  their  own 
simple  activities;  then  colonics  of  such  cells  pervaded 
by  a  fellow-feeling;  then  communities,  federally 
united  and  with  a  communal  consciousness,  the  indi- 


GENERAL  IIEFLECTIONS.  41 

vicinal  cell-miiid  now  tending  to  work  automatically; 
then  communities  in  which  some  cells  are  set  apart  to 
feel,  think  and  will  for  all  the  rest — in  short,  with 
notiiing  less  than  veritable  government.  Individual 
cells  with  the  rise  are  more  and  more  automatic,  and 
their  consciousness  retreats  into  the  background.  The 
final  outcome  and  greatest  triumph  of  Nature  is  in  the 
evolution  of  large  masses  of  nerve  matter  for  very 
elaborate  psychosis,  with  consciousness  covering  the 
play  of  only  the  highest  centers,  the  lower  groups 
acting  automatically. 

Crowning  the  whole,  man  ! 

12.  We  have  no  evidence  that  Nature's  reservoir  is 
exhausted  in  man,  even  on  the  lines  of  neural  de- 
velopment. Who  knows  what  further  possibilities  of 
brain  development  and  complexity  may  not  exist? 
Who  shall  say  what  future  evolution  may  not  do  for 
man's  present  brain  ?  Who  can  tell  what  other  and 
better  endowed  creatures  may  not  somewhere,  or  even 
here,  arise  ? 


SECTION   11. 

CONSCIOUSNESS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CONSCIOUSNESS   IN    GENERAL. 

1.  Consciousness  is  an  ultimate  fact,  and  there- 
fore does  not  admit  of  definition.  Every  one  knows 
what  it  is  until  asked  to  tell.  It  is  not  a  mere  name 
for  a  series  of  mental  states,  for  these  suppose  its  pres- 
ence ;  it  is  not  any  particular  psychic  operation,  be- 
cause it  reviews  all  psychic  operations.  It  is  a  recog- 
nition by  mind  of  its  mental  states,  an  awareness  of 
what  is  going  on  within,  and  thus  mentality  in  its  last 
analysis. 

2.  The  organ  of  consciousness  is  primarily  living 
matter.  There  seems  no  good  reason  for  denying  even 
to  the  lowest  forms  of  life  some  at  least  dim  and  shad- 
owy awareness  of  their  psychic  acts.  All  that  we  have 
thus  far  said  emphasizes  the  justice  of  this  claim. 
When  nerve  centers  appeared,  these  doubtless  func- 
tioned as  the  exclusive  organs  of  consciousness,  which 
had  withdrawn  from  commonplace  cells;  and  when 
nerve  systems  were  organized,  the  last- formed  became 
the  seats  of  conscious  existence.  In  man  the  organ  of 
consciousness,  with  the  greatest  probability  and  accord- 


CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  GENERAL.  43 

ing  to  nearly  all  competent  thinkers,  is  the  cortex  of 
the  cerebrum. 

3.  The  basic  fact  of  consciousness  is  change.  Pos- 
sibly without  change  we  might  have  knowledge,  but  we 
should  hardly  be  aware  that  we  knew :  consciousness 
would  become  nirvana^  and  practically  extinct.  The 
awareness  is  at  least  kept  alert  by  change,  and  in  all 
conscious  life  change  is  incessant. 

Moreover,  change  has  a  physiological  necessity ; 
for,  as  our  nerve  centers  are  constructed,  action  always 
involves  exhaustion,  and  persistent  use  destruction. 
Healthful  activity  of  the  brain  constantly  shifts  the 
burden  from  cell  to  cell,  from  one  center  to  another. 
Eibot,  describing  the  tumultuous  stream  of  thought, 
calls  it  "  an  irradiation  in  various  directions  and 
through  various  strata — a  mobile  aggregate,  which  is 
being  incessantly  formed,  unformed,  and  reformed." 

4.  Hence,  consciousness  involves  a  time  considera- 
tion. It  is  a  constant  11020.  It  is  aware  of  memories, 
but  not  of  those  past  occurrences  and  operations  them- 
selves which  are  remembered  ;  it  is  aware  of  anticipa- 
tions, but  not  of  those  future  occurrences  and  opera- 
tions themselves  which  are  impending;  it  is  aware 
only  of  present  mental  states. 

The  noiu  of  consciousness  is  not  a  point  but  a  period 
of  time — very  brief,  but  of  sensible  duration,  with  a 
fading  indistinctness  behind  and  a  brightening  indis- 
tinctness before.  The  length  of  this  period  varies 
from  six  to  twelve  seconds. 

5.  Consciousness  involves  a  discrimination  between 
an  ego,  or  self,  and  a  non-ego,  or  not-self — that  is,  be- 
tween a  conscious  subject  and  an  object  of  which  the 
subject  is  aware.     This  has  been  denied,  on  the  ground 


44  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

that  babes  are  not  supposed  to  make  any  such  discrim- 
ination, and  that  they  discover  the  self  after  a  while. 
The  objection,  however,  is  only  a  surmise,  and  not  an 
over  wise  one.  There  seems  no  good  reason  to  deny 
that  an  infant,  even  at  birth,  may  have  an  awareness 
of  itself  at  least  dim  and  empty  enough  to  correspond 
with  the  void  and  shadowy  nature  of  its  consciousness 
at  that  time.  It  would  not  be  in  keeping  with  our 
purpose  to  dwell  upon  the  idea  of  self  in  a  metaphys- 
ical spirit,  and  it  is  here  simply  postulated  without 
speculation  as  another  of  our  ultimates,  incapable  in 
its  last  analysis  of  definition. 

When  consciousness  is  busy  Avith  its  own  states, 
viewing  them  as  its  own,  we  name  the  operation  self- 
consciousness. 

6.  Consciousness  has  two  functions  of  supreme  im- 
portance— attention,  and  the  enchaining  or  grouping  of 
mental  states.  Without  these  wonderful  gifts  the  so- 
called  faculties  would  each  one  be  quite  useless.  The 
first  of  these  two  functions  is  consciousness  intensely 
aware,  and  the  other  is  consciousness  aware  of  the  re- 
lation between  its  objects. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ATTENTION. 

1.  Attention  is  a  temporary  arrest  of  psychic 
change,  a  fixation  of  consciousness.  If  we  picture 
the  latter  as  the  mind's  eye,  the  former  will  be  the 
"  yellow  spot "  of  clearest  \nsion. 

2.  The  compass  of  attention  is  not  large,  or,  in 


ATTENTION.  45 

other  words,  the  yellow  sjiot  of  consciousness  is  small, 
like  that  of  the  eye.  According  to  Wundt,  there  may 
be  four  or  five  visual  simultaneous  impressions — lines, 
letters,  or  numbers.  If  successive,  and  with  the  most 
favorable  interval  of  two  or  three  tenths  of  a  second, 
sixteen  simple  and  eight  double  impressions  are  pos- 
sible. If  successive  sounds  be  rhythmical  and  in 
groups,  the  largest  possible  number  of  impressions 
attended  to  at  once  is  forty,  if  divided  into  five  groups 
not  more  than  three  tenths  of  a  second  apart.  Wundt 
fixes  the  extreme  possible  duration  of  any  act  of  atten- 
tion at  from  two  and  a  half  to  four  seconds. 

3.  The  physiological  condition  of  attention  is  a 
rush  of  blood  to  the  nerve  centers  involved  and  the 
strong  innervation  of  the  end  organs  or  of  the  muscles 
used.  This  is  so  because  the  centers  are  strained  to  the 
uttermost,  and  require  quick,  continuous  and  ample 
nutrition.  Thus,  in  looking  attentively  at  anything, 
the  various  ganglia  in  which  the  optic  nerve  is  rooted 
are  richly  supplied  with  blood,  and  the  end  organs 
of  vision  and  the  eye  muscles  are  vigorously  inner- 
vated. 

4.  Attention  is  spontaneous  or  voluntary — you 
may  be  made  aware  or  you  may  make  yourself  aware. 
It  is  either  sensorial  or  reflective,  directed  to  what  is 
without  or  to  what  is  within. 

5.  If  spontaneous,  it  is  caused  by  emotional  states : 
we  attend  to  this  or  that  because  for  some  reason  we 
want  to  and  are  attracted.  Hence,  spontaneous  atten- 
tion reveals  character ;  the  things  appcrceived  betray 
the  quality  and  working  of  our  emotional  natures. 

Surprise  is  such  a  fixation  of  consciousness  of  high 
intensity.     We  speak  of  a  person's  being  rooted  to  the 


46  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR,    " 

spot,  chained,  fascinated,  etc.  As  Plato  tell  ns  in  his 
Thea^tetus,  "  Philosoiohy  begins  in  wonder  " — that  is, 
in  a  spontaneous  but  very  vigorous  observance  of  phe- 
nomena. 

6.  Voluntary  attention  is  the  result  of  education,  a 
cause  and  an  effect  of  civilization,  a  sociological  phe- 
nomenon. Eibot  suggests  that  it  originated  in  wom- 
an, through  her  cruel  necessity  of  doing  unattractive 
work  ;  thus  she  first  won  the  gift  of  application.  And 
Eibot  is  certainly  correct  in  describing  three  stages 
from  infancy  to  manhood  : 

(1)  In  childhood  such  attention  is  secured  by 
means  of  education,  acting  only  upon  the  simple  feel- 
ings— love,  fear,  desire  of  reward,  shame,  etc. 

(2)  Later  it  is  aroused  and  maintained  by  appeal 
to  feelings  of  secondary  formation,  as  love  of  self,  am- 
bition, emulation,  etc. 

(3)  Still  later,  organization  comes  in  and  volun- 
tary attention  becomes  a  matter  of  habit. 

7.  A  measure  of  solitude  securing  freedom  from 
disturbance  becomes  the  necessity  of  the  intense 
thinker  or  observer.  Mohammed  must  go  into  the 
mountains  above  Mecca,  Paul  sojourn  in  Arabia, 
Dante  haunt  the  woods  of  Fonte  Avellana,  and  Schiller 
roam  by  brook  and  glade,  while  Cervantes  does  his 
best  work  in  prison. 

Voluntary  attention  through  long  habit  may  ac- 
quire the  absorption  of  absent-mindedness.  Archi- 
medes would  forget  to  eat  his  meals,  and  only  com- 
pulsion forced  him  to  the  bath  ;  he  lost  his  life  in  such 
a  fit  of  abstraction,  at  the  hands  of  a  Roman  soldier 
to  whom  he  was  too  absorbed  to  return  the  answer 
that  would  have  saved  him.     Sir  Isaac  Newton  would 


ENCHAINING  AND  GROUPING  FUNCTION.      47 

sit,  half  dressed,  on  his  bed  for  many  hours  of  the 
day,  when  composing  the  Principiu. 

8.  Intensify  the  attraction  and  so  the  consequent 
absorption,  and  we  have  tlie  condition  called  rapture 
and  ecstasy.  Socrates  was  liable  to  fits  of  abstraction 
so  complete  that  it  was  impossible  to  arouse  him  until 
attention  voluntarily  withdrew  itself.  Once  in  the 
camp  at  Potid«a  he  stood  twenty-four  hours  in  the 
sunshine  and  in  the  dew,  motionless.  The  prophet 
Ezra  sat  crouching  in  the  court  of  the  temple  from 
morning  until  night  in  an  ecstasy  of  horror. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   ENCHAINING   AND   GROUPING   FUNCTION   OF 
CONSCIOUSNESS. 

1.  Mental  states  are  recognized  as  coming  and 
going  in  chains  and  groups.  Think  of  Lamarck  and 
Darwin  comes  into  view ;  picture  Adam  and  Eve 
promptly  appears,  apple  in  hand  ;  hear  the  hum  of 
bees  and  you  smack  your  lips  for  honey ;  see  a  cow 
and  you  long  for  cream ;  say  "  one,"  and  "  two," 
"  three,"  "  four "  come  crowding  on  ;  hum  a  theme 
and  an  entire  symphony  seems  to  swell  upon  the  ear ; 
and  so  on  ad  infinitum. 

2.  There  are  seeming  exceptions.  Often  mental 
states  succeed  each  other  without  break  or  outside 
suggestion  that  are  not  apparently  related.  You 
smell  an  odor  of  jasmine  and  think  of  Mount  Desert, 
but  perceive  no  connection.  But  if  you  will  allow 
your  mind  to  dwell  upon  the  matter,  the  search  will 


48  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

probably  be  rewarded  by  the  coming  up  into  view  of 
certain  submerged  links  in  the  chain,  whose  absence 
caused  the  apparent  break.  Then  all  is  plain :  the 
jasmine  perfumed  the  handkerchief  of  the  young  lady 
from  Boston,  and  the  fabric  of  lace — borne  by  you  on 
the  winds  from  the  passing  yacht — you  gallantly  res- 
cued from  the  waters  of  Bar  Harbor. 

3.  The  laws  of  this  enchaining  and  grouping  are 
not  far  to  seek,  if  by  laws  we  mean  only  a  classifica- 
tion of  the  kinds  of  chains  and  groups.  As  these 
kinds  are  merely  the  conceivable  relations  of  things — 
spatial,  temporal  and  logical — we  may,  if  we  please,  ex- 
ercise much  ingenuity  in  classifying.  Usually  philos- 
ophers have  arranged  them  under  a  few  captions, 
thus : 

Contiguity Horse  and  rider. 

Contrast Light  and  dark. 

Resemblance Grant  and  Sheridan. 

Succession Quoted  words. 

Cause  and  effect Vice  and  misery. 

Whole  and  parts United  States  and  New  York. 

Genus  and  species Dog  and  greyhound. 

Sign  and  thing  signified.  .Cross  and  Catholic  faith, 

4.  Sir  William  Hamilton  has  reduced  these  to  two, 
simultaneity  (in  time  and  space)  and  affinity,  the 
latter  including  every  kind  of  logical  relation.  Then, 
following  St.  Augustine,  he  compressed  these  two  into 
one,  which  he  named  redintegration,  and  which  may 
be  stated  thus  :  "  Those  mental  states  suggest  one  an- 
other which  have  at  some  previous  time  formed  parts 
of  one  mental  state."  Contiguous  and  successive 
states  associate  themselves  because  at  some  time  joined 
in  consciousness  ;  and  logical  relations  provoke  associ- 


ENCHAINING  AND  GROUPING   FUNCTION.     49 

ation  because  the  mind  has  perceived  such  relations 
and  grouped  together  things  thus  naturally  in  affinity. 
When  a  new  fact  is  cognized,  we  note  its  surroundings, 
antecedents  and  consequents,  and  wo  perceive  or  study 
up  its  relations  and  then  j)lace  it  in  its  own  classes; 
and  henceforth  it  is  likely  to  call  out  or  to  be  called 
out  by  any  member  of  these  classes.  Vice  does  not 
suggest  misery  until  we  discover  that  the  one  is  a 
cause  and  the  other  an  effect ;  henceforth,  associated 
by  this  mental  act,  either  may  call  up  the  other. 

What,  however,  shall  we  say  of  the  quick  association 
of  new  facts  with  mental  states — that  they  never  could 
have  met  in  consciousness?  For  instance,  you  are  in- 
troduced to  a  Mrs.  Irving  Booth,  and  soon  find  your- 
self repeating  the  name  of  the  distinguished  Salva- 
tionist, Mrs.  Ballington  Booth,  though  the  two  have 
never  been  in  thought  together  before.  The  solu- 
tion is  simple.  The  name  Booth  has  many  times 
formed  part  of  the  whole  thought  Ballington  Booth, 
and  it  is  that  name  recalls  the  Ballington.  Hence- 
forth Ballington  and  Irving,  hereby  associated,  will 
be  able  to  suggest  one  another  without  aid  of  the 
surname. 

All  new  objects  of  thought  must  contain  some 
quality  or  condition,  already  in  some  class  of  memo- 
rized qualities  and  conditions,  and  it  is  by  these  and 
their  associations  that  what  is  absolutely  new  is  joined 
to  what  is  old, 

5.  But  in  the  infinity  of  possible  concurrences  what 
is  it  that  determines  the  appearance  of  states  actually 
restored  ?  Why,  when  I  recall  the  song  at  last  night's 
concert,  do  I  think  of  the  singer  rather  than  of  the 
programme,  or  of  the  programme  rather  than  of  the 


50  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR, 

audience,  or  of  this  or  that,  out  of  a  thousand  possible 
restorations  ?     It  depends  upon — 

(1)  Habit.  Familiar  combinations  are  wrinkled 
into  the  nerve  structure  and  tend  of  themselves  to 
recur.  Frequency  of  recurrence  in  thought,  for  the 
wonted  notion,  establishes  lines  of  least  resistance, 
neural  highways  easily  traversed. 

(2)  Eecentness.  Poems,  orations,  series  of  facts, 
readily  restore  tliemselves,  if  but  recently  committed, 
even  to  the  scholar  of  mediocre  memory.  Not  only 
frequent  but  recent  recurrence  is  essential  to  restore 
them. 

(3)  Vividness.  This  is  of  value  because  of  the 
deep  cutting  in  of  the  record  on  the  neural  tablet. 
Moreover,  vivid  mental  states  not  only  leave  a  more 
enduring  record  ;  by  their  very  intensity  they  associate 
themselves  with  a  larger  range  and  variety  of  other 
mental  states. 

(4)  Interruption.  Which  may  interpose  sensations 
powerful  enough  not  only  to  start  new  chains  and 
form  new  centers  of  circling  ripples,  but  also  to  force 
out  of  consciousness  states  already  found  in  possession. 
Conversation  is  a  perpetual  disturbance  of  the  asso- 
ciated flow  of  thought,  a  continual  throwing  of  stones 
upon  the  already  disturbed  surface.  Every  remark, 
question,  or  gesture  of  a  companion  starts  new  rip- 
plings  and  establishes  condensing  centers  for  related 
ideas. 

(5)  Voluntary  preference ;  whereby  the  will  sum- 
mons, retires,  combines,  disassociates  and  recombines 
the  mental  states. 

G.  The  briefest  association  time  on  record  (known 
to  the  author)  is  -341  of  a  second.     A  simple  method 


THE  GENERAL  QUALITY  OP  MENTAL  STATES.  51 

of  handling  this  problem  is  to  read  aloud  as  rapidly 
as  possible.  Every  word  sounded  is  an  act  of  associa- 
tion ;  as  so  many  are  uttered  in  a  minute,  divide  sixty 
seconds  by  this  number,  and  from  the  result  subtract 
the  perception  time  and  the  interval  of  utterance. 

7.  The  relations  of  things  being  very  numerous, 
the  possibilities  are  countless.  General  Grant,  for 
instance,  is  classed  with  mankind,  with  men,  with 
Americans,  with  great  generals,  with  Presidents,  etc. ; 
he  succeeded  Johnson  and  preceded  Garfield ;  he  was 
a  cause  and  an  effect ;  in  reticence  he  was  like  William 
the  Silent,  in  temperament  he  contrasted  Washington ! 
he  was  part  of  his  army,  part  of  his  family,  etc.  The 
number  of  mental  states  which  the  name  of  Grant  may 
revive  is  thus  practically  countless. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    GENERAL   QUALITY    OF    MEXTAL   STATES. 

1.  Mental  states  may  be  classified  as  initiative, 
habitual  or  instinctive  ;  and  all  living  matter  may  be 
said  to  be  capable  of  exhibiting  these  three  phases  of 
mind. 

2.  Mind  is  initiative  when  its  operations  are,  for 
the  creature  in  question,  novel ;  and  that  even  the 
lowest  forms  can  entertain  novel  psychoses  is  now  be- 
yond reasonable  denial.  It  is  shown  in  the  capacity 
to  learn,  as  displayed  by  all  animals  and  not  impos- 
sible to  plants.  Protoplasm,  as  has  already  been  re- 
marked, can  be  educated.  Even  bees  and  ants,  though 
in  popular  estimate  the  very  incarnation  of  routine, 


52  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

have  not  yet  passed  beyond  the  point  when  their  young 
need  to  be  trained  by  their  elders  in  knowledge  of  life. 
An  ant  of  the  slave  species,  if  captured  when  a  pupa, 
will  grow  up  in  the  captor's  hill  in  perfect  ignorance 
of  its  kindred,  will  fight  them  if  necessary  and  will 
learn  obedience  in  humility.  Young  ants  or  bees  all 
receive  a  certain  schooling  in  the  hill  or  hive.  The 
same  mental  initiative  appears  in  the  shrewd  devisiugs 
of  various  creatures  to  control  novel  circumstances, 
as  narrated  in  countless  trustworthy  anecdotes.  Com- 
mander E.  II.  Napier  describes  the  feeding  of  a  num- 
ber of  pigeons  upon  a  few  oats  accidentally  let  fall  by 
a  cartman  while  fixing  the  nosebag  on  a  horse  stand- 
ing at  bait;  all  the  grain  at  hand  having  been  de- 
voured, one  of  the  birds  arose,  and,  flapj)ing  its  wings 
furiously,  darted  at  the  horse's  eyes.  The  startled 
animal  tossed  his  head  and  in  so  doing  shook  out  more 
kernels.  This  proceeding  was  repeated  whenever  the 
pigeons  had  exhausted  their  supply.  Another  witness 
tells  of  two  swallows  who  built  a  nest  in  the  veranda 
of  a  house  in  Victoria ;  as  the  nest  leaned  upon  a  bell 
wire,  it  was  frequently  disturbed  and  twice  pulled  down. 
The  pair  then  began  afresh,  making  a  tunnel  through 
the  lower  jDart  of  the  nest,  around  the  bell  wire ;  and 
they  were  annoyed  no  more. 

3.  This  initiative,  however,  tends  to  become  habit- 
ual, because  of  the  neural  law  of  habit ;  in  accordance 
with  which  nerve  elements  can  adapt  themselves  to  pe- 
culiar functions,  repeated  performance  develops  facil- 
ity and  a  nerve  system  "  grows  to  "  the  modes  in  which 
it  is  exercised.  Hence  the  possibility  and  the  tenacity 
of  personal  habit.  8hakespeare  has  observed,  "  How 
use  doth  breed  a  habit  in  a  man  ! "  and  long  before  his 


THE  GENERAL  QUALITY  OE  MENTAL  STATES.  53 

day  Ovid  wrote  of  evil  ways  and  he  might  have  said  it 
of  the  paths  of  peace  : 

"  111  habits  gather  by  unseen  degrees, 
As  brooks  make  rivers,  rivers  run  to  seas," 

4.  The  early  result  of  frequent  repetition  of  any 
act  is  a  simplification  of  the  necessary  movements. 
Habit  finds  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  and  these  be- 
come trodden  paths ;  and  hence  the  work  is  done  with 
increasing  directness,  accuracy  and  ease.  Gradually 
the  act  tends  to  become  reflex  or  automatic,  and  the 
conscious  self  is  less  and  less  troubled  with  care  of  its 
supervision.  When  we  first  learn  to  play  on  a  musical 
instrument,  to  skate,  to  swim,  to  ride  a  bicycle  or  to  jier- 
form  some  other  dexterous  combination  of  activities, 
we  find  it  necessary  to  regard  every  particular  move- 
ment, and  even  then  are  clumsy  and  soon  wearied ; 
ere  long,  however,  all  these  things  are  done  without 
awkwardness,  fatigue  or  even  conscious  attention,  the 
trained  nerve  centers  working  satisfactorily  under  only 
general  supervision.  Huxley  tolls  of  a  practical  joker, 
who,  seeing  a  discharged  veteran  carrying  home  his 
dinner,  suddenly  called  out,  "Attention  !  "  The  man 
instantly  brought  his  hands  down,  and  lost  his  mutton 
and  potatoes  in  the  gutter. 

This  law  guarantees  mental  evolution  and  ren- 
ders possible  complex  mental  operations.  Well  says 
James,  "  Habit  is  the  fly-wheel  of  society,"  and  we  may 
add,  it  is  the  condition  of  progress ;  it  forms  the  con- 
servative factor  in  the  growth  of  mind.  By  its  help 
we  trail  our  way  through  the  tangled  forests  of  life's 
devious  experiences  with  ease  and  comparative  safety ; 
without  it  there  could  be  no  evolution  of  mind  or 
mankind. 


54  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

5.  The  totality  of  habits  is  very  nearly  the  sum 
total  of  personal  character.  Said  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington :  "  Habit  a  second  nature  !  Habit  is  ten  times 
nature  !  "  There  is  an  old  Greek  fable  which  declares 
that  the  goddess  of  Love  once  converted  a  weasel  into 
a  beautiful  woman ;  and  it  adds  that  this  fair  creature 
could  never  see  a  mouse  without  jumping  at  it. 

Hence  the  personal  value  and  the  danger  of  habits : 
they  represent  the  grooves  worn  into  our  brains  by 
long  usage ;  and  as  they  remorselessly  tell  the  secrets 
of  our  past  lives,  so  they  peremptorily  condition  our 
future.  Well  said  Novalis,  the  German  philosopher, 
"  Character  is  destiny."  That  is,  our  constitutional 
habitudes  weave  our  fates ;  they  curse  and  they  bless  us. 

6.  Habits  are  inheritable.  This  is  now  denied  by 
a  large  and  able  body  of  extreme  Darwinians,  who  will 
allow  no  cause  for  evolution  but  natural  selection. 
Over  against  their  theory,  however,  there  is  a  host  of 
facts  not  easily  exj^licable  except  on  the  old  and  popu- 
lar belief  in  the  heredity  of  habit.  Take  the  follow- 
ing, and  such  cases  are  legion.  Surgeon-General  Ham- 
mond tells  of  a  gentleman  who,  having  formed  the 
habit  of  taking  a  cup  of  tea  at  midnight,  did  this  for 
twenty  years.  His  son,  born  after  his  death,  and 
knowing  nothing  of  this,  at  twenty  years  of  age  one 
midnight  awoke  with  an  intense  desire  for  tea,  rose 
and  gratified  the  longing;  the  next  night  the  same 
thing  recurred  and  it  became  a  lifelong  custom. 
This  man  died  when  a  little  son  was  but  six  years  old ; 
the  boy  grew  up,  and  seldom  tasted  tea,  until  on  a  cer- 
tain midnight  the  now  ancestral  passion  suddenly 
seized  him  and  he  became  an  habitual  midnight  tea- 
drinker.     The  grandson,  up  to  the  development  of  the 


THE  GENERAL  QUALITY  OP  MENTAL  STATES.  55 

custom,  had  never  heard  of  the  usage  of  cither  father 
or  grandfather.  We  can  all  recall  such  instances  :  the 
acquired  habits  of  parents,  whether  animal  or  human, 
become  inherited  habits  in  the  offspring.  This  is 
very  marked  in  the  results  of  the  training  of  dumb 
animals.  The  retriever,  the  setter,  the  collie  and  the 
spaniel,  among  dogs,  are  good  instances.  A  cross  with 
the  bulldog  has  affected  for  many  generations  the 
courage  and  obstinacy  of  greyhounds,  and  a  cross  with 
a  greyhound  has  given  to  a  whole  family  of  shepherd 
dogs  a  tendency  to  hunt  hares.  Mr.  Douglas  Spalding 
declares  that  one  day,  after  fondling  a  dog,  he  put  his 
hand  into  a  basket  containing  four  blind  kittens  three 
days  old.  The  doggy  smell  his  hand  carried  set  them 
puflfing  and  spitting  in  a  most  comical  fashion.  It  is 
evident  that  the  antipathy  to  dogs  was  inherited,  and 
also  that  in  the  ancestry  of  the  kittens  it  had  resulted 
not  from  congenital  variation  but  from  bitter  experi- 
ence. 

7.  When  habits  are  inherited  we  call  them  in- 
stincts ;  and  such  instinct  is  thus  an  individual  intel- 
ligence become  racial.  It  is  ancestral  experience 
crystallized  into  race  character.  Le  Conte  calls  it 
"communal  experience  treasured  in  inherited  struc- 
ture " ;  he  defines  it  as  "  inherited  memory,"  as  "  in- 
herited knowledge."  But  the  memory,  the  knowledge, 
the  experience  were  become  habitual  and  so  automatic 
before  inheritance.  Long  since — it  may  be  ages  ago — 
individual  experience  resulted  in  usage ;  and  this  usage 
— an  ancestral  heirloom — became  a  mental  tendency. 
Thus  there  were  swallows  in  North  America  before  col- 
onists arrived,  and  only  after  the  land  was  settled  did 
chimneys  and  barns  become  manifest  conveniences  for 


56  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

these  birds,  which  their  individual  intelligence  discov- 
ered and  appropriated.  A  habit  resulted  which  finally, 
by  inheritance,  was  crystallized  into  instinct,  and  there 
are  now  barn  and  chimney  swallows.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  animals  introduced  from  the  old  country : 
in  manner  of  life  and  methods  of  chase  and  escape 
they  have  accommodated  themselves  by  a  play  of  ini- 
tiative intelligence,  stiffened  into  habit  and  inherited 
as  an  instinct,  to  their  new  environment.  The  fear  of 
man  acquired  by  creatures  running  wild  in  once  in- 
habited regions  is  the  result  of  surprised  observation 
and  bitter  experience  become  a  race-  heritage. 

This  whole  process  is  beautifully  illustrated  in  the 
recent  life  history  of  a  small  parrot  in  New  Zealand, 
the  kea,  which  until  recently  fed  on  insects  and  the 
honey  of  flowers.  Latterly  it  has  taken  to  a  meat  diet, 
and  lives  on  sheep.  It  began  by  picking  at  the  sheep- 
skins hung  out  to  dry,  and  at  carcasses  of  mutton  in 
process  of  curing.  About  18G8  it  commenced  to  at- 
tack living  sheep,  which  were  often  found  with  raw 
and  bleeding  backs.  It  has  now  learned  to  burrow 
into  the  animal's  body,  eating  its  way  down  into  the 
kidneys,  which  form  its  special  delicacy. 

8.  Instinct  may  work  in  full  vigor  on  the  moment 
of  birth,  as  in  the  case  of  sucking  with  infants,  or  it 
may  be  delayed  for  years  and  then  appear  entirely 
without  education  in  great  energy,  as  in  the  instance 
of  the  tea-drinking  habit  just  cited.  A  Mr.  Lardner 
has  stated,  in  Nature,  that  his  brother  extracted  from 
the  oviduct  of  a  West  India  snake  two  snakelets  six 
inches  long ;  both,  though  unborn,  threatened  to 
strike,  and  made  with  their  tails  the  characteristic 
burring  noise.      On  the  other   hand,  Spalding   kept 


THE  GENERAL  QUALITY  OF  MENTAL  STATES.  57 

young  swallows  caged  until  they  were  fledged,  and 
then  allowed  them  to  escape ;  they  flew  ofl:  directly, 
showing  the  instinctive  power  of  flight  in  a  j)erfect 
but  deferred  form. 

9.  Some  kinds  of  instinct  display  evidence  of  a 
high  degree  of  original  initiative  intelligence.  As  in 
case  of  the  California  woodpecker,  which  bores  holes 
into  the  bark  of  trees  and  plugs  them  up  with  wormy 
acorns,  thus  allowing  the  grubs  Avithin  to  fatten  and 
furnishing  itself  with  a  rich  future  repast;  or  of  the 
wasp,  that  stings  spiders  in  the  nerve  centers,  paralyz- 
ing but  not  killing,  and  so  preserving  them  as  food 
for  its  larvEe. 

10.  We  have  remarked  that  all  inherited  habits  are 
instincts ;  now  we  must  add  that  not  all  instincts  are 
inherited  habits ;  they  may  result  from  sexual  or  nat- 
ural selection.  Says  Lloyd  Morgan  :  "  The  instincts 
of  female  insects,  which  lead  them  to  anticipate  by 
blind  prevision  the  wants  of  offspring  they  will  never 
see — of  caterpillars,  which  compel  them  to  make  pro- 
vision for  the  chrysalis  condition  of  which  they  can 
have  no  experience,  or  of  the  copepod  crustacean, 
which  lays  its  eggs  in  a  brittle  star  that  they  may 
therein  develop,  probably  in  the  brood-sac,  and  may 
even  destroy  the  reproductive  powers  of  the  host  for 
the  future  good  of  her  own  offspring — these  and  many 
others  would  seem  to  have  no  basis  in  individual  ex- 
perience." But  even  in  these  cases  the  instinct  be- 
comes a  racial  heritage ;  and  though  the  impulse  is 
too  blind  to  be  termed  intelligence,  as  a  psychic  fea- 
ture it  belongs  to  the  mental  rather  than  to  the  vital 
factor. 

11.  The  relation  of  instinct  to  initiative  intelli- 

5 


58  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

gence  being  thus  intimate,  we  need  not  be  surprised 
to  find  that  the  two  are  present  in  animals  in  an  in- 
verse ratio  of  predominance.  The  more  instinct  the 
less  individuality,  the  more  inividuality  the  less  in- 
stinct. As  Le  Conte  argues  :  "  The  mental  wealth  con- 
sists of  two  parts — individual  and  inherited.  In  man 
the  individual  acquisition  is  large  and  the  inheritance 
comparatively  small.  In  the  lower  animals  the  indi- 
vidual acquisition  is  small  and  the  inheritance  is  large. 
.  .  .  \ye  now  see  why  intelligence  varies  inversely  as 
instinct.  It  is  because  with  high  intelligence  actions 
are  so  varied  in  diSerent  individuals  and  in  different 
generations  that  it  is  impossible  that  their  results 
should  accumulate  in  and  become  petrified  in  struc- 
ture. But  in  the  lower  animals  the  conditions  of  life 
are  narrow,  the  habits  run  in  few  lines,  and  these  are 
deepened  with  every  generation,  until  they  become,  as 
it  were,  petrified  in  brain  structure ;  ...  all  such  pet- 
rifactions arrest  development,  because  unadaptable  to 
new  conditions." 

12.  Instinct  may  become  very  stupid  ;  as  is  seen 
in  the  tendency  of  caterpillars  to  go  back  to  the  be- 
ginning of  a  series  of  actions  to  commence  over  again, 
when  interrupted.  The  very  wasp,  which  so  wisely 
walls  up  its  prey  in  burrows,  will  go  through  the  ac- 
customed action  of  closing  a  burrow  from  which  it 
knows  the  prey  to  have  escaped,  before  proceeding  to 
fill  and  seal  another.  The  periodic  migrations  of  the 
lemming,  a  rodent  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  has  for 
ages  furnished  amazement  to  the  scientific  world.  At 
varying  intervals  of  from  five  to  twenty  years  certain 
cultivated  districts  are  overrun  by  these  little  crea- 
tures ;  in  an  army  they  steadily  and  slowly  advance 


THE  GENERAL  QUALITY  OP  MENTAL  STATES.  59 

down  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea — regardless  of  all 
obstacles,  swimming  across  streams  and  lakes,  devas- 
tating every  field,  pursued  and  preyed  upon  by  wolves, 
bears,  foxes  and  eagles,  countless  millions  swarming  to 
the  seashore ;  the  ocean  attained,  they  plunge  boldly 
into  the  waves  and  swim  until  exhausted  they  sink 
beneath  the  surge.  Doubtless  in  some  previous  age 
with  a  different  geological  aspect  this  migration  was 
a  movement  of  wisdom  required  by  circumstances  and 
justified  by  the  results :  it  is  now  only  the  blind  work- 
ing of  a  dangerous  instinct. 

Very  likely  the  same  fate  would  overtake  Euro- 
pean birds  that  annually  migrate  to  Africa  by  way  of 
Italy  and  Sicily,  were  the  African  continent  to  disap- 
pear. This  migratory  habit  was  formed  at  a  geologic- 
al period,  when  there  was  practically  a  land  connec- 
tion between  the  northern  and  southern  continents, 
and  when  the  African  elephant  and  hippopotamus 
roamed  over  Sicily.  Should  the  north  coast  of  Africa 
sink  beneath  the  waves,  it  is  all  but  certain  that  Euro- 
pean migratory  birds  would  seek  its  sands  and  groves 
to  return  no  more. 

What  we  term  absent-mindedness  is  often  only 
the  stupidity  of  mechanical  thinking;  as  with  that 
Texas  farmer,  who  drove  five  miles  ere  he  discovered 
that  the  tail-board  of  his  wagon  had  been  forgotten, 
and  returned  to  find,  as  he  dismounted  in  his  yard, 
that  all  the  while  he  had  been  sitting  upon  it ;  or 
as  in  the  case  of  that  eminent  Connecticut  clergy- 
man, who  on  a  noted  Sabbath  morning  forgot  to 
make  the  "  long  prayer,"  and  could  not  understand 
why  the  service  ended  at  half -past  eleven  o'clock — a 
circumstance  absolutely  unique  in  his  ministry. 


60  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR, 

The  stupidities  of  iiltra-oonservatism  illustrate  the 
same  iufatuation  of  habit.  Truths  are  held  to  be  true 
merely  because  they  are  not  new ;  and  institutions  are 
valued  chiefly  because  well  established.  Somebody 
has  well  said  of  the  run  of  mankind,  "  Men  are  only 
dead  men  warmed  over." 

13.  It  is  man's  glory,  however,  that  he  may  rise 
above  the  instinctive  to  the  initiative.  He  is,  after  all, 
not  a  mere  brain  structure,  not  a  nerve  machine  con- 
structed and  wound  up  years  ago.  He  not  only  in- 
herits habits;  he  may  generate  them.  So  doing  he 
reigns.  There  are  no  kings  and  queens  in  the  world 
any  more  save  such  as  these.  Originality  comes  to  a 
throne.  History  of  each  one  is  always  expecting  form- 
ative action,  and  the  world  is  to  every  person  a  con- 
stant challenge  of  opportunity.  He  who  acts  instinc- 
tively is  human,  hp  who  lives  a  life  of  habit  has  formed 
a  character,  but  that  one  who  can  develop  new  habits 
and  bequeath  new  instincts  to  the  race  is  divine — 
poet,  genius,  prophet ;  the  world  waits  for  him,  per- 
secutes him,  builds  his  sepulchre  and  worships  him. 

14.  To  sum  up,  we  find  a  three  fold  stratification 
of  psychic  phenomena : 

(1)  An  inherited  constitution  of  instincts,  or  in- 
herited memories  and  aptitudes. 

(2)  A  superadded  mass  of  habits,  or  acquired 
memories  and  aptitudes. 

(3)  An  uppermost  layer  of  individuality,  forming 
new  memories  and  aptitudes.  ' 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  MENTAL  STATES.        Gl 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   INFLUENCE    OF  MENTAL   STATES    ON   ORGANIC 

FUNCTIONS. 

1.  These  lectures  will  often  emphasize  the  fact  of 
influence  by  organic  functions  over  mental  states; 
we  purpose  to  prepare  for  this  by  treating  here  of  the 
reverse  fact,  as  one  of  general  interest.  Says  Prof. 
James,  "  A  process  set  up  anywhere  in  the  centers  re- 
verberates everywhere  and  in  some  way  or  other  affects 
the  organism  throughout,  making  its  activities  either 
greater  or  less." 

Notice  the  influence  of  mental  states  upon  the  se- 
cretions. Sorrow  in  moderation  increases,  in  excess 
checks,  the  flow  of  tears.  Anxiety  often  occasions 
perspiration.  The  transudation  of  bloody  sweat,  in 
extreme  mental  agony,  is  in  a  few  cases  at  least  well 
attested  as  a  historical  fact,  and  entirely  apart  from  the 
record  of  Gethsemane.  The  immediate  and  striking 
effect  of  mental  states  upon  lactation  are  well  under- 
stood. 

Or  notice  the  effect  upon  the  vital  functions.  An 
instrument  for  measuring  the  rhythm  and  flow  of  the 
pulsation  will  record  extreme  unrest  in  the  blood- 
vessels, conditioned  by  passing  emotions ;  which  show 
themselves  potent  in  constant  changes.  Thus  a  dog's 
circulation  exhibits  tumultuous  pulse-markings  when 
listening  to  the  sudden  scream  of  another  dog.  "  "We 
catch  our  breath  "  on  a  sudden  alarm.  We  "  hold  the 
breath"  whenever  attention  and  expectation  are 
strongly  engaged ;  and  a  sigh  marks  the  relief  of  dis- 


62  THE   PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

traction,  A  certain  Colonel  Townsend  could  volun- 
tarily slow  up  or  quicken  the  action  of  the  heart. 
Many  persons  can  blush  at  will ;  and  now  and  then  one 
is  found,  who  can  faint  if  desirable.  Great  fright  may 
cause  the  heart  to  stop  beating  and  the  blood  to  "  cur- 
dle," and  either  joy  or  fear,  if  sudden  and  intense, 
may  occasion  instant  death.  Excitement  quickens 
the  circulation ;  modesty  and  shame  reveal  themselves 
by  blushing.  The  sight  of  anything  horrible  may  in- 
duce a  faint ;  while  a  disgusting  object,  or  even  the 
thought  of  one,  may  bring  about  vomiting. 

The  influence  of  the  mental  states  even  upon  the 
muscles  is  to  be  noted.  Maniacal  fury  vastly  aug- 
ments the  bodily  strength,  and  determination  has 
much  to  do  with  both  vigor  and  endurance.  The  som- 
nambulistic condition  seems  at  times  to  impart  aston- 
ishing acuteness  and  accuracy  to  the  muscular  sense 
and  to  muscular  activity.  A  lively  play  of  the  im- 
agination provokes  expressive  movement  of  the  fea- 
tures, gesticulation,  and  perhaps  talking  aloud.  An 
actor  can  only  with  difficulty  declaim  a  part  expressive 
of  intense  ideas  without  grimace  and  posture.  Some 
guileless  people  record  the  whole  inner  soul  in  the 
features  and  movement. 

A  belief  that  ghosts  are  present  invariably  causes 
a  cold  shudder  or  the  sensation  of  a  cool  draft. 

2.  So  tremendous  is  this  jDOwer  of  mind  over 
body,  that  diseases  may  often  be  cured  and  ailments 
caused  by  a  new  idea.  A  woman  once  came  to  Sur- 
geon-General Hammond  with  what  he  considered  an 
incurable  disorder.  She  sighed  as  she  turned  to  go 
away  disconsolate,  saying,  "  Ah,  if  I  but  had  some  of 
the  water  of  Lourdes !  " — for  she  was  a  devout  Catho- 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  MENTAL  STATES.        63 

lie.  Now  it  so  happened  that  a  friend  had  brought 
the  doctor  a  bottle  of  the  genuine  water  of  Lourdes 
to  experiment  with.  He  informed  the  patient  of  this, 
and  promised  her  some,  provided  she  would  first  try  a 
more  potent  remedy,  Aqua  Crotonis  (New  York  city 
aqueduct  water).  The  woman  consented,  but  pro- 
testing that  this  latter  could  not  reach  the  case.  He 
then  gave  her  a  little  vial  of  the  real  article,  but 
labeled  "  Aqua  Crotonis."  When  this  had  failed  he 
gave  her  Croton  water,  but  labeled  "  Water  of  Lourdes." 
The  result  was  a  complete  cure. 

On  the  other  hand,  diseases  may  arise  through 
ideas.  A  woman  saw  a  child  caught  in  a  gate,  and 
she  believed  for  a  moment  that  its  ankle  had  been 
crushed.  So  deeply  did  sympathy  cut,  that  one  of  her 
own  ankles  swelled  and  reddened.  Dr.  Morton  P. 
Prince  cites  the  case  of  a  lady  who  believed  that  the 
mere  presence  of  a  rose  in  the  room  brought  on  vio- 
lent catarrh  and  weeping ;  and  when  she  smelt  a  rose 
these  symptoms  did  invariably  occur.  So  her  physi- 
cian presented  her  suddenly  one  day  with  an  artificial 
rose,  occasioned  these  disastrous  results,  and  then  con- 
fessed the  fraud.  The  mental  shock  of  the  revelation 
restored  her  to  sanity,  and  the  affliction  ceased.  It  was 
the  false  idea  produced  the  symptoms;  this  removed, 
the  diseased  condition  was  gone. 

3.  The  hygienic  value  of  this  fact  is  very  evident, 
and  in  it  lies  the  secret  of  the  faith  cure,  mind  cure 
and  Christian  Science.  The  Hebrews  were  wont  to 
quote  to  one  another  this  proverb,  "A  joyful  heart 
maketh  a  happy  cure."  As  persistent  attention  and 
exaggeration  of  ideas  will  account  for  most  of  our 
grievances  and  woes,  so  distraction   from  pain   and 


64  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

dwelling  upon  pleasure  will  guarantee  contentment 
and  peace. 

4.  There  is  danger  to  health  and  sanity  in  a  greedy- 
brain,  which  if  pampered  will  take  more  than  its 
share,  in  any  case  large,  of  the  body's  nourishment. 
The  result  is  the  starvation  and  drooping  of  the  vital 
organs,  and  the  failure  of  the  machinery  of  nourish- 
ment itself.  Much  of  ill  health  among  students  re- 
sults from  this  overindulgence  of  the  brain,  with  the 
inevitable  final  failure  not  only  of  the  general  physique 
but  no  less  of  the  central  ganglia  themselves,  whose 
greediness  caused  the  trouble.  It  is  impossible  long 
to  nourish  the  head  at  expense  of  the  body ;  general 
decay  sooner  or  later  must  set  in. 

5.  An  extremely  common  morbid  result  of  undue 
mental  anxiety  is  what  has  recently  come  to  be  called 
nervous  dyspepsia,  which  is  a  failure  of  innervation  of 
the  stomach.  Extremely  freakish,  it  depends  upon 
moods  and  conditions.  The  simplest  food  may  fail  of 
assimilation,  and  the  most  complex  may  at  another 
time  be  appropriated  with  ease.  The  immediate  cause 
is  an  inhibition  of  the  nerve  of  the  stomach,  the  re- 
mote cause  general  nervous  exhaustion,  or  at  least  that 
irritability  of  brain  ganglia  which  precipitates  general 
exhaustion. 

6.  Nervous  prostration — a  convenient  phrase  cover- 
ing much  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  physicians — in 
general  describes  the  most  prominent  and  the  most 
alarming  malady  of  the  day.  It  has  many  forms  and 
numberless  symptoms,  but  its  cause  is  exhaustion  of 
the  nerve  cells,  through  starving  or  overwork.  Doubt- 
less the  age  is  responsible.  The  sleepy  days  of  former 
stupid  discontent,  when  most  men  drowsed  and  the  son 


THE  INFLUENCE  OP  MENTAL  STATES.        C5 

followed  in  the  footstej^s  of  the  father,  untroubled  by 
ambition,  social  problems  or  religious  perplexity,  are 
forever  gone.  We  are  come  to  an  age  of  intelligent 
unrest,  aspiration,  inquiry  and  endeavor.  Human  ac- 
tion is  in  general  intense  to  universal  nervousness;  hu- 
man thought  is  in  general  without  repose.  The  times 
are  feverish.  There  are  scarce  any  more  Sleepy  Hol- 
lows even  among  the  mountains  and  in  lonely  forests ; 
the  railroad  king  or  the  statesman  is  as  likely  to  come 
forth  from  the  cot  in  the  wilderness  as  from  the  heart 
of  a  city.  The  very  plow  handles  think.  Villages  are 
become  but  suburbs  to  the  universal  civic  pande- 
monium. Notice  how  popular  words  which  describe 
popular  men — "  wide  awake,"  "  smart,"  "  clever," 
"  sharp  " — indicate  the  intensity  of  the  striving.  Hence 
the  prevalent  diseases  are  of  the  nervous  order,  hyste- 
ria, apoplexy,  neurasthenia,  brain-softening,  insanity. 
The  phrase  7iervous  prostration  describes  the  first 
monitory  approaches  of  these  insidious  foes  to  happi- 
ness and  health.  It  assumes  protean  forms,  and  has 
numberless  symptoms,  the  most  marked  of  which  are 
incapacity  for  mental  work,  persistent  depression,  in- 
digestion and  insomnia. 

7.  The  proper  care  of  the  brain  involves  : 

(1)  Its  nourishment  by  good  food  well  digested. 

(2)  The  preservation  of  tone  throughout  the  body 
by  careful  prevention  of  an  oversupply  of  the  brain, 
which  should  not  be  allowed  to  rob  the  stomach  and 
other  vital  organs. 

(3)  Periodic  rest  in  sufficient  daily  sleep  and  sab- 
batic and  yearly  vacations. 

(4)  All  of  which  involves  a  judicious  limitation  of 
the  work  done.  ' 


66  THE   PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

(5)  It  should  be  a  fixed  habit  to  divert  attention 
from  personal  pain^  from  the  foul,  morbid,  and  hor- 
rible, and  to  keep  the  mind  sweet  and  clean,  hopeful 
and  aspiring,  stored  only  with  the  facts  and  fancies  of 
the  true,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good. 

(G)  The  imagination  should  be  used  to  intensify 
the  "sweetijess  and  light"  of  existence.  Schiller  said 
that  a  truly  artistic  imagination  "  only  plays  with  the 
beautiful  and  plays  with  the  beautiful  only."  It  much 
concerns  mental  health  that  the  imagination  should 
"  play  "  with  only  the  fair  and  winsome. 

(7)  Will  to  be  well !  This,  strictly  speaking,  is  the 
"mind  cure,"  is  potent  in  nerve  diseases,  and  is  not 
useless  in  other  maladies.  Physicians  are  constantly 
telling  their  patients  to  "  give  up  and  go  to  bed,"  but 
worse  advice,  except  in  the  doctor's  interest,  could  not 
be  offered.  Never  give  up,  and  do  not  go  to  bed  unless 
to  sleep. 

Note. — The  famous  Thomas  K.  Beecher,  in  a  sermon  of 
review,  stated  that  during  a  ministry  of  many  years  he  had 
buried  two  thousand  persons,  and  only  three  of  them  had  died 
a  natural  death.  On  being  reproached  for  so  extraordinary  a 
statement  by  an  eminent  neighboring  doctor  of  medicine,  he 
vented  his  little  joke  and  explained  by  saying  that  those  three 
were  the  ones  who  had  not  employed  a  physician.  This  will  at 
least  serve  to  illustrate  the  growing  feeling  among  men  of 
thought,  that  we  have  been  doctored  overmuch,  and  that  the 
recuperative  powers  of  the  human  body  have  not  been  suffi- 
ciently appealed  to  through  the  imagination  and  the  will. 


SECTION   III. 
SUBCONSCIOUSNESS, 


CHAPTER  XL 

SUBCONSCIOUSNESS    IN    GENERAL. 

1.  By  the  word  subconsciousness  we  describe 
mental  states  that  are  neither  conscious  nor  uncon- 
scious. 

2.  We  have  observed  that  the  nerve  centers,  directly 
they  become  "  lower "  and  subordinate  to  higher  co- 
ordinating centers,  retreat  into  the  background,  their 
activities  fading  out  of  personal  siglit  and  surpervision. 
Consciousness  withdraws  to  the  higher,  and  the  lower 
perform  their  work  with  an  intelligence  of  their  own 
that  is  automatic  and  in  a  measure  impersonal  and 
beyond  the  purview  of  the  ordinary  every-day  self- 
recognition. 

3.  We  have  seen  that  even  personal  habits  tend  to 
retreat  from  the  field  of  conscious  activity  and  to  be- 
come automatic  and  impersonal.  The  same  is  true  of 
instincts,  which  rule  the  life  with  or  without  conscious 
supervision. 

4.  Sleep  introduces  us  to  another  condition  of  the 
subconscious,  and  one  in  which  it  is  possible  to  inves- 
tigate the  condition  itself. 


68  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

5.  To  this  realm  belong  those  obscure  mental 
activities  which  recent  writers  have  termed  "  uncon- 
scious cerebration."  A  man  wearies  of  a  problem  he 
can  not  solve,  and  leaves  it  in  despair ;  on  the  morrow, 
unexpectedly  and  when  he  is  thinking  of  something 
else,  the  solution  comes  to  him  as  a  happy  thought. 
You  forget  a  name,  and  give  up  the  attempt ;  by  and 
by  it  pops  into  thought  unceremoniously.  One  hears 
a  tune,  likes  the  air  and  forgets  at  once ;  on  the  mor- 
row it  can  not  be  recalled,  but  a  week  later  one  is  found 
humming  it  over.  "VVe  sleep  with  a  determination  to 
rise  at  a  certain  hour,  and  on  the  stroke  of  the  clock 
we  are  somehow  aroused.  A  large  proportion  of  our 
thinking  and  willing  is  done  for  us  by  a  somewhat 
within,  and  we  get  only  the  results.  Often  the  ob- 
scure decision  anticipates  our  conscious  discussion  and 
resolution.  As  was  true  of  that  country  parson  who, 
called  to  a  city  church  on  a  large  salary,  betook  him- 
self to  prayer  for  liglit.  After  several  weeks  a  neigh- 
bor accosted  his  eldest :  "  Say,  Jim,  is  your  father 
going  to  accept  that  call  ?  "  The  boy  replied,  "  Well, 
father  is  still  praying  for  light,  but  most  of  the  things 
is  packed ! " 

6.  Here,  also,  find  place  somnambulism,  hypnosis 
and  those  subtile  powers  of  the  human  mind  which 
hitherto  have  been  claimed  for  sorcery  and  spirit- 
ism, and  which  now  we  have  come  to  name  thought- 
transference  and  lucidity. 

7.  To  these  must  be  added  certain  diseased  condi- 
tions which,  in  the  decay  of  personality  and  the  fading 
out  of  consciousness,  push  up  into  notice — to  wit,  hal- 
lucination and  dual  and  multiple  personality. 

8.  All  these   subconscious  states  are   marked   by 


SLEEP.  69 

automatism,  which  is  quite  iiulepeiideiit  of  the  ego, 
and  often  defiant  of  it.  They  form  a  personality  of 
their  own,  and  develop  consciousness  beyond  the 
threshold  of  consciousness. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SLEEP. 

1.  Nerveless  creatures  do  not  in  any  true  sense 
sleep,  but  they  have  seasons  of  repose  that  may  sug- 
gest and  may  even  simulate  it. 

Unicellular  organisms  very  commonly  go  through 
stages  of  inactivity,  when  they  are  encysted  and  quies- 
cent. Plants  enjoy  periods  of  rest,  and  often  they 
droop  and  fold  their  leaves  at  night;  and  nerveless 
communities  of  animal  cells  are  not  incessantly  active. 

2.  Animals  with  nerves  not  only  can,  but  must, 
sleep.  The  intenser  the  mental  activity  the  greater 
the  need.  Nerve  cells  in  action  consume  much  pre- 
cious substance,  dissipate  enormous  stores  of  energy 
and  will  die  of  exhaustion  if  constantly  worked.  The 
lifelong  perpetual  beating  of  the  heart  may  seem  to 
be  in  contravention  of  this,  but  who  knows  that  this 
wonderful  organ  is  innervated  all  through  the  twenty- 
four  hours  of  the  day  by  precisely  the  same  cells? 
Analogy  renders  this  extremely  improbable. 

3.  With  all  animals  that  have  active  brains,  sleep 
is  a  very  significant  factor,  not  only  of  health,  but  no 
less  of  life  itself.  In  man's  development  it  assumes 
vast  importance.  The  worst  form  of  torture  for  us  is 
to  be  kept  constantly  awake.     Continued  insomnia 


70  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

results  in  madness,  and  ultimately  in  death.  And  we 
are  all  ready  to  say  with  Sancho  Panza,  "  Blessings  on 
him  who  first  invented  sleep  !  " 

4.  Sleep  is  induced  by  weariness,  darkness,  quiet 
and  low  monotonous  noises,  like  the  buzzing  of  insects, 
the  murmur  of  a  breath  of  wind  among  leaves,  the  fall 
of  a  tiny  surf  upon  the  seashore,  a  mother's  lullaby, 
or  the  droning  of  a  dull  preacher ;  or  by  gentle  move- 
ments, like  the  rocking  of  a  cradle  and  the  swinging 
of  a  hammock.  In  short,  anything  which  soothes 
psychic  activity  and  determines  blood  from  the  brain 
will  tend  to  cause  somnolence. 

5.  On  the  contrary,  awakening  can  be  effected  by 
any  kind  of  rousement,  determining  blood  to  the 
brain  and  exciting  psychic  movement.  A  sharp  call, 
a  vigorous  shake,  or  a  sudden  flood  of  light  will  gen- 
erally suffice. 

6.  The  process  of  going  to  sleep  is  very  interest- 
ing. The  members  succumb  in  regular  succession ; 
first  the  head  grows  heavy,  then  the  upper  eyelids 
droop,  the  subhyoid  muscles  yawn,  the  inspirations 
become  slower  and  deeper,  the  lower  jaw  falls,  the 
chin  drops  upon  the  chest,  and  the  limbs  relax.  A 
similar  sequence  of  psychic  phenomena  occurs. 
Speech  becomes  confused,  vision  indistinct,  thought 
obscure.  First  the  will  and  the  moral  nature  go  to 
sleep,  and  consciousness  falls  into  a  petty  anarchy. 
Visions  come  and  go,  often  with  marvelous  rapidity, 
in  grotesque  connection  and  succession,  continuing 
nothing,  perfecting  nothing  and  evanescent.  At  last 
the  imagination  slumbers,  and  there  is  profound  rest. 

7.  Waking  reverses  this  process  :  for  it  is  the  im- 
agination that  first  arouses  itself  to  renew  its  chaotic 


SLEEP.  71 

dreaming;  then  follows  the  will,  reason  and  moral 
nature ;  linally  the  eyes  see  and  the  tongue  recovers 
speech. 

8.  The  physiological  explanation  of  these  facts  is 
simply  the  withdrawal  or  the  supply  of  nutrition.  In 
sleep  the  brain  is  ansemic.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
spinal  cord  ;  the  retina  also  is  blanched,  and  all  the 
end  organs  unsupplied  ;  indeed,  the  nerve  centers  re- 
ceive only  a  slight  and  sluggish  flow  of  blood — just 
enough  to  repair  waste  but  not  sufficient  for  active 
work. 

Hence  sleep  can  be  prevented  by  excitement  and 
by  medicinal  stimulants,  and  can  be  artificially  oc- 
casioned by  pressure  on  the  great  arteries  of  the  neck, 
or  by  acting  through  drugs  upon  the  vasomotor  cen- 
ters. 

9.  It  is  probable  that  in  sleep  the  mind  is  at  all 
times  subconsciously  active.  Dreams  may  utterly  fail 
but  there  is  a  subdued  self-awareness  ;  and  some  nerve 
cells  are  always  on  guard  and  practically  awake.  Per- 
sons in  deepest  repose  can  be  aroused  by  a  word,  if 
only  you  know  what  is  the  exciting  signal.  The  bark 
of  a  watch  dog,  the  ringing  of  a  bell,  the  cry  of  a  babe 
will  suffice.  We  can  sometimes  appoint  an  awaken- 
ing with  ourselves  and  start  up  on  the  stroke  of  the 
clock. 

10.  Some  good  work,  in  a  quiet  way,  is  often  done 
in  sleep,  especially  if  it  be  restless  :  plans  are  matured, 
problems  solved  and  happy  thoughts  evolved,  as  ap- 
pears on  the  following  morning.  The  advice  so  often 
given  concerning  some  troublesome  aspect  of  life's 
puzzle,  "  to  sleep  over  it,"  is  good  philosophy. 

11.  During  sleep  the  temperature  of  the  body  falls 


72  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

from  one  half  a  degree  to  two  degrees,  the  amount  of 
carbonic  dioxide  exhaled  is  diminished,  and  the  amount 
of  heat  given  off  falls  from  112  calories  to  40  (for  a 
man  weighing  147  pounds— Helmholtz),  This  shows 
that  tissue  changes  are  very  slight. 

12.  The  amount  of  sleep  required  is,  for  a  child, 
one  half  its  time ;  for  an  adult,  one  third.  Women 
need  more  than  men  and  among  men  there  is  vari- 
ance. Napoleon  could  sleep  and  wake  at  will,  and 
needed  but  four  or  five  hours  :  he  died  of  exhaustion, 
however,  at  fifty-two.  Descartes  required  ten  hours 
and  was  incapable  of  efficient  brain  work  without  it. 
Doubtless,  in  this  matter  of  amount,  both  the  quality 
and  vigor  of  nerve  cells  are  involved. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

DKEAMINCt. 

1.  Some  people  never  dream,  or,  if  they  do  so,  fail 
to  remember ;  with  most,  however,  at  least  just  after 
losing  one's  self  and  just  before  awakening,  subcon- 
sciousness is  more  or  less  alert. 

2.  The  whole  nervous  system,  though  partially  in 
repose,  now  displays  a  certain  amount  of  sensitiveness. 
A  touch,  a  sound,  a  ray  of  light,  a  pungent  odor,  a 
pain,  a  sense  of  heat  or  cold,  modifies  the  rhythm  of 
respiration,  determines  a  contraction  of  the  vessels 
of  the  forearm,  increases  the  general  pressure  of  the 
blood,  causes  an  extra  inflow  of  blood  to  the  brain, 
and  quickens  the  heart-beat.  This  sensitiveness,  both 
peripheral  and  central,  combined   with  ample  cerebral 


DREAMING.  73 

blood   supply,   gives  us   the   physical   conditions    of 
dreaming. 

3.  Psychologically,  the  supremely  important  fact 
in  dreaming  is  the  withdrawal  of  the  personal  con- 
sciousness, with  its  trained  will  and  developed  moral 
nature.  Personality  slumbers,  the  impersonal  remains 
awake.  Reality,  central  control  and  the  co-ordination 
of  ego  and  non-ego,  all  practically  cease  to  exert  in- 
fluence. 

4.  Some  claim  that  dreaming  is  the  earliest  and 
primary  form  of  self-awareness,  and  that  waking  is  a 
secondary  state  developed  to  meet  external  needs.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  the  two  are  radically  distinct.  In  the 
former  the  imagination,  dominated  only  by  fortuitous 
association,  plaj's  at  anarchy. 

5.  The  orgy  begins  even  before  the  drowsy  person- 
al consciousness  is  disposed  of ;  and  for  a  while,  and 
indeed  so  long  as  slumber  remains  light,  the  work  of 
fantastic  creation  may  be  controlled.  The  author  is 
able  in  light  sleep  to  end  his  dreams  by  an  act  of  will 
if  they  prove  unpleasant,*  and  to  continue  and  elabo- 
rate if  agreeable.  At  best,  however,  the  sway  of  will  is 
weak  and  brief  ;  imagination  soon  and  easily  escapes  its 
leash,  as  slumber  deepens. 

6.  Hence  dreams  are  apt  to  be  irrational,  not  regu- 
lated by  the  known  limitations  of  time,  space  and 
causation.  They  play  childishly  with  extension  and 
duration,  are  often  utterly  absurd,  are  sometimes  quite 
inconsequential,  aiul  not  seldom  vicious  or  darkly 
criminal.  ]Miss  Cobbe  cites  several  instances  of  atro- 
cious misconduct  on  the  part  of  persons  whose  eleva- 
tion of  character  rendered  the  infamy  of  it  quite  in- 
congruous.    She  tells  of  a  distinguished  philauthro- 

6 


74:  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

pist,  an  eminent  jurist,  who  constantly  committed 
forgery  and  regretted  the  act  only  when  he  learned 
that  he  was  to  be  hanged  ;  of  a  woman  whose  life 
was  devoted  to  the  instruction  of  pauper  children,  who, 
seeing  one  making  a  face  at  her,  doubled  him  up  in 
the  smallest  compass  and  poked  him  througli  the  bars 
of  a  lion's  cage ;  and,  finally,  of  one  of  the  most 
benevolent  of  men  who  ran  his  best  friend  through 
the  body  and  felt  extreme  satisfaction  on  seeing  the 
point  of  his  sword  come  out  through  the  shoulders  of 
his  beloved  companion. 

7.  Yet  are  dreams  intensely  realistic,  in  a  way. 
After  all  is  said  that  can  be  of  their  unreasonableness 
and  immorality,  they  are  yet  sufiiciently  actualistic  to 
justify  the  Hebrew  Psalmist,  when,  comparing  life  to 
a  dream-troubled  sleep,  he  said,  "  I  shall  be  satisfied 
Avhen  I  awake  with  thy  likeness  " ;  sufficiently  true  to 
life's  evanescent  and  unsatisfactory  phenomena  to 
point  the  dramatist's  cynicism,  when  he  made  one  of 
his  players  declare  : 

"  We  are  such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of. 
And  our  little  life  is  rounded  with  a  sleep, 
And  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision. 
The  cloud-capped  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces. 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit  shall  dissolve. 
And,  like  an  insubstantial  pageant,  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind." 

This  close  connection  of  the  two  worlds  is  not  to 
be  forgotten. 

8.  Dreams  are  determined  by  central  or  by  pe- 
ripheral stimulation.  Of  the  central  determination 
we  know  little ;  it  seems  to  be  an  automatic  action  of 


Creaming.  Y5 

nerve  cells  in  the  brain,  sending  out  thought  waves 
tliat  cause  other  nerve  cells  to  explode  and  otlier 
thought  waves  to  vibrate.  The  locality  of  the  start- 
ing point  and  the  energy  of  the  impulsion  probably 
determine  the  character  of  the  succeeding  visions. 

Of  peripheral  stimulation  very  little  is  required  to 
decide  the  nature  of  dreams ;  an  odor,  a  breath  of  air, 
the  bark  of  a  dog,  a  rustle,  or  a  cramped  muscle  or  a 
touch  of  indigestion,  the  pain  of  a  wound  or  a  disturb- 
ance of  circulation,  will  any  and  all  suffice  to  provoke 
elaborate  trains  of  fantastic  imaginings.  A  physician 
who  applied  a  hot- water  bottle  to  his  feet  on  retiring 
dreamed  that  he  was  climbing  Mount  Etna  and  found 
the  heat  insufferable.  Another,  who  applied  a  blister 
to  his  head,  was  scalped  by  a  party  of  Indians.  Dr. 
Beattie  mentions  a  man  wiio  could  be  made  to  dream 
on  any  subject  by  suggestive  whispering  in  his  ear. 
Lobster  salad  just  before  retiring  has  been  known  to 
produce  very  lively  and  not  always  agreeable  visions. 
The  dreaming  of  patients  in  painful  illness  is  generally 
distressing. 

In  this  connection  a  speculation  of  Prof.  Ladd  is 
of  interest.  He  claims,  and  seems  to  prove,  that  the 
dots,  lines,  splashes  and  angles  which  we  observe  in 
the  field  of  vision  when  the  eyes  are  closed — what  the 
Germans  name  EigenlicJit,  and  Prof.  Ilelmholtz  calls 
"luminous  chaos"  and  "luminous  dust" — to  some 
extent  determine  the  form  and  character  of  dreams, 
and  to  some  degree  occasion  them. 

9.  Dreams  often  transpire  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time.  A  person  was  suddenly  aroused  from 
sleep  by  a  few  drops  of  water  sprinkled  on  his  face ; 
he  pictured  on  the  instant  the  events  of  an  entire  life, 


76  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

in  which  happiness  and  sorrow  mingled,  and  which 
finally  terminated  with  an  altercation  upon  the  bor- 
ders of  an  extensive  lake,  into  which  his  exasperated 
companion  succeeded  after  a  struggle  in  plunging 
him.  Dr.  Abercrombie  relates  a  similar  case  of  a  gen- 
tleman who  dreamed  that  he  had  enlisted  as  a  soldier, 
joined  his  regiment,  deserted,  was  apprehended,  car- 
ried back,  tried,  condemned  to  be  shot,  and  led  out  to 
execution.  He  awoke  as  the  fatal  fusillade  resounded 
in  loud  report,  to  discover  that  the  cause  of  his  dis- 
turbance was  a  noise  in  the  adjoining  room.  Lord 
Holland  fell  asleep  when  listening  to  somebody  read- 
ing, had  a  long  dream,  and  yet  awoke  in  time  to  hear 
the  conclusion  of  the  sentence,  of  which  he  remem- 
bered the  beginning. 

10.  Another  most  interesting  feature  is  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  hallucination.  There  is  absence  of 
all  surprise  over  ridiculous  transformations,  grotesque 
situations  and  impossible  combinations.  '■'■Nil  ad- 
mirari''''  is  now  the  motto  of  even  the  most  skeptical 
and  the  most  susceptible.  This  is  because  impressions 
from  the  outside  are  not  present  to  contrast  ideas : 
ideas  have  undergone  an  absolute  as  well  as  a  relative 
increase  in  intensity.  Time,  space,  motion,  pleasure, 
pain,  are  exaggerated,  and,  occupying  the  whole  field  of 
thought,  produce  upon  the  subconsciousness  the  effect 
of  reality. 

11.  The  coherence  of  these  hallucinations  is  worth 
consideration.  While  dreams  do  not  in  general 
"  stand  upon  the  order  of  their  going,"  there  is  enough 
of  orderliness  of  sequence  to  suggest  the  working  of 
some  law  of  connection  other  than  that  of  mere  asso- 
ciation of  ideas.     Many  persons,  of  whom  the  author 


DREAMING.  77 

is  one,  receive  their  first  intimation  of  approaching 
sleep  in  fragmentary  pictures,  which  succeed  one 
another  in  the  most  incoherent  way,  like  views  from  a 
stercopticon  thrown  upon  a  canvas,  whereon  the  audi- 
ence knows  not  what  will  appear  next — a  grand  old 
moss-covered  castle,  a  tall  chimney,  the  face  of  a 
friend,  etc.  This  is  followed  by  a  dramatic  show  with 
lively  action,  in  which  the  dreamer  may  be  actor  or 
spectator,  or  both,  and  which,  however  grotesque,  at 
■least  preserves  a  thread  of  sequence.  It  seems  highly 
probable  that  the  nerve  cells  of  the  brain,  on  being 
loosed  from  control,  acting  at  first  disjointly,  as  slum- 
ber deepens  soon  begin  to  combine,  but  under  some 
sway  less  rigid  than  that  of  the  conscious  will.  A 
kind  of  dream  personality  is  suggested. 

12.  In  the  same  connection  is  the  curious  fact  that 
we  dream  that  we  dream.  Often  we  bemoan  lying 
awake,  when  some  one  stirs  ns  and  we  learn  to  our 
astonishment  that  we  have  been  only  dreaming  that 
we  were  awake.  ]\Iuch  insomnia  is  little  less  than  this 
restlessness  and  vivid  dreaming. 

We  are  confident  that  this  phenomenon  occurs 
only  with  habitual  dreamers,  in  whom  the  secondary 
dream  personality  is  so  well  developed  that  a  fainter 
tertiary  personality  looms  up  in  the  distant  shadows. 

^Ye  have  no  evidence  that  any  one  ever  carried  this 
involvement  into  further  complications,  to  dream  that 
they  dreamed  that  they  dreamed— though  this  is  by  no 
means  impossible. 

13.  Sometimes  dreams  manifest  a  vigor  and  range 
of  intelligence  not  usually  in  control.  While  most 
persons  have  only  silly  imaginings  in  slumber,  some 
see  visions   that  are  the   product   of   much   creative 


78  THE   PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

power.  The  author  remembers  on  one  occasion  im- 
agining himself  turning  over  a  book  of  fine  engrav- 
ings. He  had  never  seen  them  before,  as  he  assured 
himself  while  dreaming  and  afterward,  on  awaking, 
and  while  intensely  vivid  imjiressions  remained.  What 
was  it  enabled  him  in  a  moment  to  create  a  score  of 
varied  and  superb  works  of  art  ?  Moreover,  he  has 
not  only  created  whole  dramas,  filled  with  characters, 
scenes  and  witticisms ;  he  has  himself  personally  acted 
in  them  as  one  of  his  own  dramatis  personce  ;  and  then 
he  has  lain  awake  a  long  while  marveling  over  this 
utterly  unusual  activity,  never  having  succeeded  at 
impersonation,  nor  having  been  knowingly  capable  of 
dramatic  composition. 

Some  really  great  works  of  genius  have  arisen  in 
this  way.  Tartini,  a  famous  violinist  and  composer, 
dreamed  'that  the  devil  had  become  his  slave,  and  that 
one  day  he  asked  the  Evil  One  whether  he  could  play 
the  fiddle.  Satan  replied  that  he  thought  he  might 
pick  up  a  tune,  and  thereupon  he  played  an  exquisite 
sonata.  Tartini,  imperfectly  remembering  this  on 
awakening,  noted  it  down,  and  it  is  now  known  to 
musicians  as  II  Trillo  del  Diavolo.  And  in  like  man- 
ner Coleridge  composed  his  poem  of  Kubla  Khan. 

14.  Dreams  are  occasionally  significant  precursors 
of  disease.  Armand  de  Villeneuve  dreamed  that  a  dog 
bit  him  in  the  leg,  and  a  few  days  later  fell  victim  to 
a  cancerous  ulcer  on  the  very  spot  bitten,  Gessner,  in 
his  sleep,  fancied  that  he  was  fanged  in  the  left  side 
by  a  serpent ;  soon  on  the  same  place  he  developed  a 
malignant  pustule,  of  which  he  died.  A  man  saw,  in 
a  dream,  an  epileptic,  and  shortly  himself  became  one. 
A  woman  spoke  to  a  person  who  could  not  reply  to  her 


DREAMING.  79 

because  dumb,  and  she  awoke  to  fiud  that  she  herself 
had  lost  the  power  of  speech. 

These  facts  indicate  that  subconscious  centers  are 
capable  of  sending  up  to  the  dream  personality  valu- 
able information. 

15.  That  dreams  occasionally  become  veridical  has 
been  the  belief  of  many  in  all  ages.  The  night  before 
Julius  Caesar  was  assassinated  his  wife  Calphurnia 
dreamed  that  her  husband  fell  bleeding  across  her 
knees.  On  the  night  that  Attila  died  the  Emperor 
Marcian,  in  slumber,  saw  the  bow  of  the  Ilunnish  con- 
queror broken  asunder.  So  at  least  the  old  records 
tell  us,  and  such  stories  are  legion.  Our  Bible  is  full 
of  similar  narratives,  which  unbelievers  have  ridiculed 
and  which  the  devout  have  swallowed  with  no  little 
choking. 

To  the  great  amazement  of  the  scientific  world,  the 
Society  of  Psychical  Kesearch  has  recently  collected  a 
very  large  array  of  no  less  marvelous  narratives  of  sig- 
nificant dreams  told  by  persons  of  the  highest  charac- 
ter and  position,  and  verified  by  corroborative  docu- 
ments and  circumstances. 

We  must  delay  the  attempt  to  throw  light  upon 
these  claims  until  the  study  of  thought-transference 
and  lucidity  shall  engage  our  attention.  Well  and 
truly  wrote  Byron : 

"  Sleep  hath  its  own  world, 
And  a  wide  realm  of  wild  reality ; 
And  dreams  in  their  development  have  breath, 
And  tears  and  tortures  and  the  touch  of  joy. 
They  leave  a  weight  upon  our  waking  thoughts, 
They  take  a  weight  from  off  our  waking  toils; 
They  do  divide  our  being ;  they  become 
A  portion  of  ourselves  as  of  our  time, 


80  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

And  look  like  heralds  of  Eternity, 

They  pass  like  spirits  of  the  past,  they  speak 

Like  sibyls  of  the  future ;  they  have  power, 

The  tyranny  of  pleasure  and  of  pain. 

They  make  us  what  we  were  not,  what  they  will ; 

And  shake  us  with  the  vision  that's  gone  by — 

The  dread  of  vanished  shadows  ! " 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SOMNAMBULISM. 

1.  A  SLEEPEK  dreaming  sometimes  acts  his  dream  : 
he  talks  or  walks.  Such  a  person  we  describe  as  a 
sleep-walker  or  somnambule. 

The  condition  is  induced  by  apparently  trivial 
causes — an  undigested  meal,  a  lingering  mental  ex- 
citement, or  a  disturbance  of  slumber  from  without. 
It  may  and  often  does  occur  during  sleep  by  day. 

2.  Physiological  explanation  of  this  lies  in  the 
partial  awakening  of  certain  end  organs  and  of  the 
corresponding  sensory-motor  centers. 

The  psychological  explanation  is  in  the  increased 
coherence  and  activity  of  subconsciousness. 

3.  Sleep-talking  at  first  is  incoherent,  but  it  may 
become  in  time^  if  cultivated,  a  gift  of  intelligent  con- 
versation. One  of  the  students  of  Elmira  College,  a 
remarkably  talented  young  lady,  who  when  awake  was 
unusually  reticent  and  discreet,  when  dreaming  could 
be  skillfully  led  on  by  her  roommate  to  reveal  all  the 
occurrences  of  the  day.  Carpenter  tells  of  a  young 
lady  who,  when  in  school,  often  talked  in  sleep,  her 
ideas  always  running  upon  the  events  of  the  previous 


SOMNAxAIBULISM.  81 

diiy.  If  encouraged  by  leading  questions,  she  would 
give  a  coherent  account  of  these  occurrences,  provided 
the  queries  were  pertinent;  questions  not  pertinent 
Avere  not  answered,  and  to  all  other  ordinary  sounds 
she  was  quite  insensible. 

Sleep-walking  undergoes  a  like  development.  It 
beofins  in  a  mere  locomotive  restlessness,  but  if  culti- 
vated  becomes  an  ambulatory  life  of  uncanny  adven- 
ture, in  which  certain  end  organs  are  alert  and  certain 
brain  ganglia  active,  while  the  muscular  system  is  wide 
awake.  Sleep-walkers  Avander  through  houses,  climb 
roofs,  stray  abroad  over  the  country  and  in  general 
manifest  an  adventurous  disposition. 

4.  If  encouraged  by  circumstances,  the  somnam- 
bulic habit  develops  into  a  secondary  sleep  character, 
a  subconscious  sleep  life,  in  which  the  center  of  per- 
sonality is  shifted.  A  new  memory  arises ;  all  occur- 
rences in  former  attacks  being  tenaciously  retained,  a 
new  mnemonic  chain  forms;  each  somnambulic  ex- 
perience connects  itself  with  all  previous  ones.  More- 
over, the  somnambule,  in  addition  to  these  memories, 
holds  in  addition  the  entire  storehouse  of  waking  rec- 
ollections, and  so  is  richer  in  resources  of  reminis- 
cence asleep  than  awake.  Then  characteristics  assert 
themselves  ;  the  patient  is  a  "  visual " — that  is,  sees, 
but  hears  not — or  is  an  "audile" — that  is,  hears,  but 
sees  not — or  is  a  "  tactile  " — that  is,  having  hypersen- 
sitive touch,  dispenses  with  both  eyes  and  ears.  Or 
he  may  be  quite  like  himself  and  only  a  little  "  queer." 

5.  We  saw  that,  in  dreaming,  attention  is  not  ob- 
servant, but  rapt ;  in  the  sleep-walking  condition  at- 
tention arouses  itself  and  becomes  discriminating. 
There  is  now  a  non-ego  as  well  as  an  ego  ;  the  somuam- 


82  THE  PSYCHIC  factor. 

bule  may  even  perceive  that  he  is  other  than  himself, 
and  may  delight  in  it.  He  may  move  through  the 
world  and  converse  and  act  much  as  if  awake,  with 
accurate  judgment  of  men  and  things.  Eational  in- 
telligence is  now  partially  aroused,  though  displaying 
marked  departures  from  the  normal  types.  Only  the 
old  personality  slumbers ;  the  thought  center  seems 
shifted,  and  a  dual  consciousness  inaugurated.  Indeed, 
the  somnambule  often  refers  to  his  waking  self  as  to  a 
third  person. 

6.  Some  very  amazing  incidental  phenomena  have 
always  rendered  this  condition  the  puzzle  and  despair 
of  metaphysicians  and  other  scientists.  There  is  often 
a  muscular  dexterity  quite  unwonted,  and  capable  of 
most  noteworthy  feats  of  skill  and  daring,  sight  with 
closed  eyes,  and  touch  beyond  all  ordinary  experience 
hypersensitive.  Imagination  is  intensely  vivid,  and 
the  most  astonishing  creations  of  dreams  may  become 
actual  performances.  A  young,  ignorant  girl  may  be- 
gin to  preach  or  recite  poems  with  excellent  pronun- 
ciation, rhetoric  and  elocution.  The  most  intricate 
problems  may  be  solved,  the  most  difficult  music  per- 
formed. We  shall  presently  see  that  thought-trans- 
ference and  lucidity  are  also  frequently  manifested  to 
a  remarkable  degree. 

7.  This  condition  may  in  some  patients  be  volun- 
tarily induced,  in  which  case,  however,  it  merges  into 
the  hypnotic  trance.     Of  this  anon. 

8.  Somnambules  must  be  gently  aroused,  if  dis- 
turbed at  all.  A  violent  shock  is  injurious,  and  may 
prove  fatal.  In  general  the  trance  lapses  of  itself  into 
ordinary  sleep,  and  on  awaking  the  patient  remem- 
bers the  sleej)  acting  only  as  a  fading  dream,  if  at  all. 


SOMNAMBULISM.  83 

9.  Action  in  sleep  is  much  more  exhaustive  than 
mere  dreaming,  and  the  actors  awake  wearied  and. 
pale.  Hence  this  condition  has  always  been  viewed  by 
physicians  as  unhealthy.  It  would  seem  Avise,  there- 
fore, rigorously  to  rejiress  all  tendencies  in  this  direc- 
tion by  attention  to  health,  the  ventilation  of  bedrooms 
and  the  removal  and  prevention  of  disturbance. 

10.  A  careful  review  of  these  facts  will  convince 
us  that  we  are  here  dealing  with  only  the  old  problem 
of  dreaming,  but  in  an  exaggerated  form  and  degree. 
Nothing  absolutely  new  by  Avay  of  psychic  phenomena 
is  developed.  The  creative  imaginings  of  somnambu- 
lism are  no  more  wonderful  than  the  splendid  visions, 
correct  impersonations,  and  elevated  poems  and  dramas 
of  dreaming  ;  only  they  are  spoken  and  acted,  as  well 
as  conceived.  Its  marvelous  hypersensitiveness  of  the 
end  organs  is  but  what  we  find  occasionally  in  the 
waking  condition  of  certain  exceptionally  gifted  per- 
sons, while  its  thought-transference  and  lucidity  only 
multiply  in  number,  intensity  and  quality,  as  we  shall 
soon  see — experiences  which  many  have  when  in  full 
possession  of  all  their  faculties. 

Somnambulism  does  not  offer  us  a  new  problem ;  it 
puts  exclamation  and  interrogation  points  over  against 
facts  ordinarily  obscure,  but  quite  common,  and  vastly 
significant ;  it  jiroves  that  we  are  creatures  of  marvel- 
ous capabilities  ;  that  man's  knowledge  of  himself  is 
the  least  developed  of  all  the  sciences  ;  and  that,  as  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  said  of  his  own  immense  learning,  the 
wisest  have  only  "  scratched  the  surface  of  things." 


84  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

HYPNOSIS. 

1.  We  have  learned  that  it  is  of  ourselves  we  sleep, 
that  sleeping  we  dream,  and  that  dreaming  we  often 
talk  and  act  our  visions. 

Now  let  sleep  and  dreaming,  sleep  talking  and 
walking,  be  induced  by  another  than  ourselves,  and 
we  may  describe  the  condition  as  hypnosis.  We  are 
hypnotized,  the  sleep  is  enforced  and  the  dreams  are 
suggested  by  another.  In  short,  hypnosis  is  induced 
sleep,  induced  dreaming  and  induced  somnambulism. 
The  essential  feature  is  the  induction,  and  the  impor- 
tant problem  of  hypnotism  is  the  secret  of  its  nature 
and  method.  W-e  may  expect  all  hypnotic  phenome- 
na to  group  themselves  under  the  three  heads  of  sleep, 
of  dreaming  and  of  somnambulism. 

2.  Hypnosis  is  a  widespread  possibility.  Its  range 
is  as  extensive,  probably,  as  the  possession  of  brains, 
or  of  elaborate  nervous  systems ;  and  it  thus  appears 
that  even  in  low  forms  there  exists  a  realm  of  sub- 
consciousness. Hypnotic  results  have  been  obtained 
in  the  shrimp,  crab,  lobster  and  sepia;  in  the  cod, 
brill  and  torpedo  fish ;  in  the  taSpole,  frog,  lizard, 
crocodile,  serpent  and  tortoise;  in  some  birds;  in  the 
Guinea  jiig  and  in  the  rabbit.  It  is  generally  found 
sufficient  to  place  the  animal  in  some  abnormal  posi- 
tion— for  instance,  on  its  back — and  to  keep  it  quiet, 
with  slight,  continuous  pressure.  Soon  it  refrains 
from  voluntary  movement,  and  anaesthesia  of  skin 
and  mucous   membrane  results.     With  repeated  ex- 


HYPNOSIS.  85 

perimcnt    animals   become   more   and   more   suscep- 
tible. 

3.  Of  human  beings  the  majority  may  become 
either  agent  or  sensitive.  Authorities  vary  as  to  the 
proportion  of  sensitives  ;  they  agree,  however,  in  hold- 
ing that  persistent  experiment  would  overcome  re- 
sistance in  most  cases.  Forel  thinks  that  every  per- 
son not  insane  in  time  would  succumb  ;  and  as  in 
every  one  there  is  a  realm  of  the  subconscious,  this  is 
probably  true. 

It  has  generally  been  supposed  that  health,  cul- 
ture and  intelligence,  affording  self-control,  favored 
resistance ;  and  that  a  weak  will,  incapacity  to  lix  at- 
tention and  the  hysteric  temperament  predisposed  to 
easy  surrender.  Moll,  however,  with  many  other  able 
experimenters,  now  claims  that  the  weak  and  hyster- 
ical are,  if  anything,  less  amenable  to  suggestion,  and 
that  the  best  sensitives  are  vigorous  in  mind  and  body. 

4.  The  condition  is  produced  by  any  method  that 
fixes  the  attention  and  arouses  expectation  of  its  oc- 
currence. Thus,  by  passes  or  other  manipulation — 
by  causing  the  sensitive  to  gaze  fixedly  at  a  bright 
object — by  a  sudden  flash  of  light,  a  violent  noise,  a 
word  of  command,  etc.,  the  suggestion  may  enter  by 
any  of  the  senses.  In  well-trained  cases  a  simple 
direction  by  letter,  by  telegraph,  or  by  telephone  will 
do ;  and  a  mental  command,  working  by  thought- 
transference  over  miles  of  distance,  has  been  known 
repeatedly  to  succeed. 

Bernheim's  method  is  as  follows :  "  You  place  the 
patient  in  an  armchair,  and  make  him  for  a  few 
seconds,  or  minutes,  look  up  into  your  eyes;  and 
meanwhile  tell  him,  in  aloud  and  confident  but  monot- 


86  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

onous  tone,  that  he  is  going  on  famously,  that  his  e3'es 
are  ah-eady  swimming,  that  the  lids  are  heavy,  and 
that  he  feels  a  pleasant  warmth  in  legs  and  arms. 
Then  you  make  him  look  at  the  thumb  and  first  fin- 
ger of  your  left  hand,  which  you  gradually  lower,  so 
that  the  eyelids  may  follow.  If  the  eyes  now  close  of 
themselves,  the  game  is  won.  If  not,  you  say,  'Shut 
your  eyes,'  and  proceed  with  suggestions." 

A  lady  accidentally  hypnotized  a  girl — a  perfect 
stranger — whom  she  met  in  a  railroad  station,  and 
whose  face  she  simply  stroked  in  sympathy.  A  gen- 
tleman hypnotized  his  babe  by  playfully  shaking  his 
finger  at  it.  Esdaile  succeeded  with  a  blind  colored 
man,  by  gazing  silently  upon  him  over  the  wall,  as  the 
patient  was  engaged  eating  his  dinner ;  the  laborer 
gradually  ceased  to  eat,  and  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
was  perfectly  entranced  and  cataleptic.  This  was  re- 
peated at  untimely  seasons,  and  when  the  operator's 
presence  could  not  have  been  known,  always  with  like 
results.  The  "  evil  eye  "  of  ancient  sujjerstition  in 
this  experiment  was  probably  realized. 

Baron  von  Shrenk-]S[otzing  has  shown  that  hypno- 
sis may  be  hastened  or  intensified  by  narcotics.  A  few 
whiffs  of  chloroform  will  put  even  an  obstinate  patient 
into  susceptible  condition,  and  often  a  narcotic  of  it- 
self is  sufllcient  to  predispose  to  all  the  well-known 
conditions ;  moreover,  a  person  only  slightly  under 
control  may  be  thrown  into  deeper  mesmeric  trance. 
This  is  so  because  narcotics  affect  the  conscious  per- 
sonality, but  leave  the  subconscious  largely,  if  not 
wholly,  awake. 

5.  Hypnosis  occurs  in  varying  degrees  of  complete- 
ness, in  some  cases  resembling  ordinary  drowsiness, 


HYPNOSIS.  87 

in  others  effecting  profound  revolution  in  the  work- 
ings of  the  nervous  system.  A  few  sensitives  retain 
througliout  somewliiit  of  personal  consciousness,  and 
decided  power  of  resistance  to  absurd,  disagreeable,  or 
immoral  suggestions.  Most,  however,  are  only  sub- 
conscious and  passively  obedient. 

In  its  most  perfect  manifestation  the  condition 
presents  three  phases,  though  not  in  any  fixed  order — 
lethargy,  catalepsy  and  somnambulism. 

6.  Lethargy,  or  deep  hypnotic  sleep — for  it  is 
nothing  else — can  be  produced  by  firmly  closing  the 
eyes,  if  the  entranced  patient  knows  that  such  result 
is  expected  thereby.  Sensitives  become  under  this 
treatment  perfectly  inert,  with  tendency  to  rigidity. 
Psychosis  is  intensely  subconscious,  and  some  claim 
that  the  state  is  one  of  complete  unconsciousness. 
They,  however,  hear,  understand  and  respond  to  the 
commands  of  the  operator,  and  are  therefore  so  far 
forth  subconscious,  precisely  as  in  the  case  of  ordi- 
nary slumber. 

Pressure  on  tendons  will  render  associated  muscles 
inflexible;  the  whole  body  can  be  stiffened  by  pres- 
sure on  certain  parts  of  the  legs ;  so  that  patients  can 
be  placed  with  head  on  the  back  of  a  chair  and  feet 
on  the  floor,  unyielding  as  a  board.  There  is  complete 
insensibility  to  pain,  and  needles  may  be  inserted  even 
into  the  quick  between  nail  and  finger  tip  without 
provoking  outcry.  Latterly,  the  lethargic  stage  has 
been  used  as  a  substitute  for  anaesthetics  in  surgical 
operations;  and  the  most  elaborate  cuttings  have  been 
carried  on  with  an  insensibility  as  complete  as  that 
conferred  by  chloroform.  Sensitives  must,  however, 
be  trained  by  repeated  mesmerizing  for  this. 


88  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

7.  Catalepsy,  or  hypnotic  dreaming,  is  produced 
by  simply  opening  the  eyes  of  the  lethargic  patient. 
There  is  now  a  sort  of  impersonal  consciousness,  which 
replaces  the  coma  of  lethargy.  An  attitude  or  a 
movement  can  be  impressed  from  without  upon  the 
subject,  who  will  retain  the  attitude  or  complete  the 
movement.  In  fact,  the  dreaming  condition  now 
obtains,  only  the  dreams  are  suggested  and  guided 
by  the  will  of  another,  and  the  patient  is  sensitive  to 
only  one  suggestion  at  a  time — a  perfect  automaton. 
She  is  a  devout  Catholic — for  we  describe  an  actual 
case — and  a  gong  rung  to  simulate  the  ringing  of  a 
church  bell  will  produce  an  attitude  of  prayer,  with 
eyes  lowered,  and  head  and  body  meekly  bowed.  In- 
sert a  red  glass  between  her  staring  eyes  and  the  light, 
and  she  will  receive  a  suggestion  of  conflagration,  will 
see  flames  and  burning  wretches,  and  will  wring  her 
hands  in  horror,  fear  and  pity.  Whistle  a  waltz,  and 
she  will  dance.  Indeed,  any  vivid  idea  suggested 
works  its  way  and  by  channel  of  any  of  the  senses,  into 
her  brain,  and  arouses,  by  purely  reflex  action,  pos- 
tures, gestures  and  cries  appropriate. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  two  halves  of  the 
brain  can  be  oj^erated  upon  separately,  by  the  direc- 
tion of  suggestion  to  the  right  or  to  the  left  end  or- 
gans. Thus  a  double  and  opposing  suggestiveness 
may  work  the  most  contrary  emotions  and  expressions ; 
the  right  brain  may  be  frightened  and  the  left  en- 
couraged, with 'the  result  of  the  left  half  of  the  face 
exhibiting  terror  and  the  right  wreathing  itself  in 
smiles. 

8.  In  hypnotic  somnambulism  the  sensitive  is 
sleep  talking  and  sleep  walking  and  knows  her  own 


HYPNOSIS.  89 

dreams.  There  is  not  only  subconscious  activity  of  a 
high  degree  of  acuteness,  but  also  a  pronounced  sleep 
personality.  Sensibility  to  pain  is  fully  recovered, 
complex  ideas  possible,  speech  regained. 

Three  series  of  phenomena  are  now  to  be  ob- 
served : 

(1)  The  sensitive  is  curiously  en  rapport  with  the 
operator ;  her  sleep  personality  is  in  strange  identity 
with  his  own.  There  is  a  blind  confidence,  a  devoted 
clinging,  an  implicit  trust,  entirely  non  existent  be- 
fore ;  and  so  close  is  this  psychic  union  that  salt  or 
pepper  on  the  operator's  tongue  will  cause  the  pa- 
tient's face  to  draw  awry,  and  headaches  and  tooth- 
aches can  at  a  word  be  transferred  backward  and  for- 
Avard.  Thought-transference  becomes  an  exceedingly 
easy  channel  of  communication,  and  commands  may 
be  made  and  executed  by  silent  volition. 

(2)  An  expressed  judgment  of  the  operator  is  ac- 
cepted as  fact ;  nay,  more,  the  sensitive's  imagination 
plays  with  and  elaborates  the  most  improbable  asser- 
tions with  infantile  credulity,  and  as  though  her  mind 
were  only  an  annex  of  his  own.  A  file  bitten  is  pro- 
nounced good  chocolate,  because  so  declared.  The 
patient  is  asked  whether  she  hears  the  canary  sing, 
and  enlarges  upon  the  variety  and  richness  of  the 
tones.  She  is  assured  that  an  Englishman  present  is 
a  Chinaman,  believes  it,  and  pictures  vividly  his  Ori- 
ental robes,  slit  eyes  and  pigtail.  Another  guest  is 
accepted  as  a  block  of  ice,  with  flowers  growing  on  the 
surface;  and  she  points  to  the  glacial  streams  flowing 
from  him,  and  picks  Marechal  Niel  roses  from  his 
pencil  case.  She  is  told  to  sleep,  and  is  in  profound 
slumber;  she  is  awakened,  and  then  again  bidden  to 

7 


90  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

sleep  until  the  hat  of  one  of  the  company  he  removed, 
and,  obeying,  the  moment  the  hat  is  removed  she 
awakens  herself.  She  is  commanded  to  poison  the 
Chinaman  with  arsenic,  does  so,  and  weeps  bitterly  in 
remorse ;  giving  him  the  phantom  cup,  she  gasps, 
"  Drink  it  not — the  cup  is  poisoned  ! "  as  if  driven 
by  dread  fatality  to  what  horrified  her. 

(3)  Finally,  the  operator  may  play  upon  the  sensi- 
tive's machinery  of  inhibition  and  acceleration.  He 
may  make  it  impossible  for  her  to  pronounce  the  let- 
ter A,  and  take  from  lier  the  very  idea  of  the  letter, 
so  that  all  words  containing  A  are  sounded  without  it. 
He  may  inhibit  the  use  of  any  sense,  rendering  her 
blind  with  open  eyes,  deaf,  dumb,  without  taste,  or 
without  smell.  He  can  make  her  lame  in  arm  or  leg. 
Or,  on  the  contrary,  he  may  accelerate  any  sense  or 
function.  She  will  detect  a  particular  quarter  of  a 
dollar  from  twenty  such,  simply  by  weight,  poising 
them  upon  a  finger.  She  can  be  brought  to  see  things 
microscopically  small  or  through  a  cardboard,  and 
even  behold  her  own  image  on  a  piece  of  writing  pa- 
per, using  it  as  a  mirror.  Inform  her  that  a  picture 
is  on  a  blank  sheet  of  paper,  and  she  wnll  at  once  per- 
ceive it,  and  if  it  be  mixed  with  other  blank  sheets  will 
extract  the  right  one;  turn  it  upside  down  and  she  will 
complain  that  her  picture  is  reversed.  Nay,  these  im- 
aginary sketches  appear  to  respond  to  all  the  laws  of 
optics,  can  be  rendered  double  by  pushing  inward  one 
of  her  eyes,  can  be  doubly  refracted,  etc.  Draw  a  mark 
with  red  chalk  on  paper,  and  assure  her  that  the  page 
is  blank,  and  she  will  not  perceive  it.  To  be  sure,  the 
eyes  work  normally,  and  the  usual  impression  is  made 
upon  the  retina,  as  appears  from  the  fact  that  when 


THE  HYPNOTIC  SLEEP  PERSONALITY.        91 

her  vision  is  directed  to  another  blank  sheet  she  does 
see  the  complementary  green  after-image  of  the  red 
chalk  mark.  She  sees  and  is  inhibited  only  from  per- 
ceiving. If  the  mark  be  doubled  by  a  prism,  she  will 
perceive  the  second  image,  but  still  ignore  the  first  and 
direct  one. 

9.  Hypnosis  is  terminated  by  reversing  passes,  if 
these  were  made  at  first,  by  blowing  upon  the  eyes,  by 
a  word  of  command,  by  predicting  that  at  such  a  mo- 
ment or  on  such  an  occurrence  the  patient  will  awake. 
Care  should  be  taken  to  remove  all  unpleasant  previous 
suggestions,  to  tell  the  sleeper  that  the  situation  is  a 
very  comfortable  one,  and  that  the  awakening  shall  be 
to  health  and  peace  of  mind. 

10.  The  condition  is  favorable  to  the  display  of 
thought-transference  and  lucidity ;  of  which  a  little 
later. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    HYPNOTIC   SLEEP   PERSONALITY. 

1.  Hypnosis  may  be  repeated  indefinitely ;  and 
with  repetition  the  sensitive  becomes  more  and  more 
susceptible,  as  to  speediness  of  subjugation,  as  to  in- 
tensity and  as  to  duration. 

In  some  cases  the  control  can  be  maintained  for 
long  periods — for  months,  and  even  for  years. 

2.  Eenewals  all  connect  themselves  with  previous 
experience  in  a  consecutive  order,  and  a  mnemonic 
chain  forms  quite  as  in  natural  somnambulism.  Rec- 
ollection of  what  has  taken  place  in  the  trance  rarely 
presents  itself  on  awaking,  except  perhaps  as  a  fading 


92  '  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

dream  ;  but  it  is  perfectly  active  and  accurate  when 
hypnosis  is  renewed.  Hence  facts  acquired  in  the  sleep 
may  be  recovered  on  the  awakening  by  indirect  meth- 
ods, appealing  to  this  coherent  subconsciousness.  Give 
the  aroused  patient  a  planchette,  and  the  needed  infor- 
mation will  be  forthcoming.  Mr.  Gurney  describes  a 
large  number  of  experiments  in  arithmetical  problems 
given  a  patient  when  under  influence,  the  answers  hav- 
ing been  duly  written  out  by  planchette  in  the  normal 
condition,  when  the  latter  was  wholly  unaware  of  what 
he  was  doing.  Dr.  Proust  describes  a  person  who  falls 
asleep  himself  without  outside  suggestion  and  without 
warning,  who  for  short  periods  exists  in  an  entirely 
anomalous  life  ;  he  is  a  veritable  Dr.  Jekyll,  only  his 
Mr.  Hyde  is  not  at  all  a  demon.  On  May  11, 1889,  he 
was  breakfasting  at  a  restaurant  in  Paris,  and  two  days 
later  found  himself  at  Tro3'es.  Of  what  had  happened 
during  the  interval  he  could  remember  nothing ;  he 
recalled,  however,  that  before  losing  his  primary  con- 
sciousness he  had  worn  a  greatcoat  containing  in  a 
pocket  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  francs.  He  was 
hypnotized,  and  at  once  gave  a  lucid  account  of  his 
somnambulation,  of  his  visit  to  Troyes,  of  friends  dined 
with  there,  and  where  he  left  the  overcoat  and  purse. 
These  statements  were  all  verified,  and  the  coat  and 
purse  with  exact  amount  of  money  recovered.  Other 
similar  authentic  cases  are  on  record. 

3.  These  facts  account  for  the  gradual  rise  in  hyp- 
notics of  what  has  been  called  secondary  personality, 
which,  after  all,  is  only  intensified  sleep  personality. 
Chronic  cases  slowly  develop  a  distinct  subconscious 
character,  and  if  the  waking  character  be  weak  or  vi- 
cious, the  "  new  creature  "  may  become  the  most  re- 


THE  nYPNOTIC  SLEEP  PERSONALITY.         93 

spectable   member   of   the    firm.      (Read   account   of 

Blanch  Witt  and  of  Marceline  K in  Proceedings 

of  the  Society  of  Psychical  Research,  vol.  xv,  pp.  216, 
217,  219,  220.) 

4.  When  the  secondary  personality  has  become  well 
established,  itself  may  be  hypnotized,  and  so  in  time  a 
third  sleep  character  appear,  the  shade  of  a  shadow, 
the  dream  of  a  dream.     This  is  verified  in  the  famous 

case  of   Madame  B ,  an  elderly  French  peasant, 

who,  though  old,  dull  and  ignorant,  shy,  passive  and 
stolid,  has  become  the  most  interesting  woman  in 
Europe. 

Leonie  B (long  the  favorite  sensitive  of  Prof. 

Janet),  who  falls  asleep  at  a  word  or  by  volition  ex- 
erted over  great  distance,  has  developed,  when  in  the 
mesmeric  trance,  an  extensive  mnemonic  chain  and  a 
distinct  character  peculiar  to  the  condition.  When 
hypnotized  she  calls  herself  Leontine,  and  is,  as  such, 
vivacious,  saucy  and  not  very  truthful ;  her  memory 
now  is  more  extensive  than  Leonie's,  comprising  as  it 
does  all  that  the  latter  knows  and  all  that  the  former 
has  experienced.  One  day  Janet  received  a  note  from 
Leonie  written  in  serious  and  respectful  style  and  de- 
claring that  she  was  ill.  Over  the  page  began  another 
epistle  in  a  quite  different  style.  "  My  dear  good  Sir  : 
I  must  tell  you  that  B really,  really  makes  me  suf- 
fer very  much ;  she  can  not  sleep,  she  spits  blood,  she 
hurts  me  !  I  am  going  to  demolish  her ;  she  bores  me ; 
I  am  ill  also.     This  is  from  your  devoted  Leontine." 

Madame  B knew  nothing  of  this  second  letter 

when  closely  questioned.  These  duplex  letters  became 
common.  Madame  B would  write  Leontine's  post- 
scripts automatically,  in  a  fit  of  abstraction,  and  if  on 


94:  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

arousing  herself  she  discovered  what  she  had  done,  she 
would  tear  up  the  missive.  Hence  Leontine  hit  upon 
a  plan  of  placing  them  in  a  jihotographic  album,  into 
which  Leonie  could  not  look  without  falling  into  cata- 
lepsy. 

After  Leontine's  personality  was  well  established, 
noticing  that  there  was  a  background  of  subconscious 
cerebration  even  in  her  psychic  life,  Janet  succeeded 
in  throwing  her  into  mesmeric  trance  and  thereby 
causing  to  emerge  a  third  personality,  at  first  faint  but 
now  daily  becoming   more   and   more  characteristic. 

This  third  Madame  B called  herself  Leonore,  and 

knew,  in  addition  to  her  own  memories,  all  that  Leo- 
nie or  Leontine  recollected.  Leonore  is  thoughtful, 
grave,  addicted  to  poetry  and  much  the  most  estimable 
member  of  Madame  B 's  copartnership. 

5.  It  is  said  that  back  of  Leonore  a  still  other  indi- 
viduality looms  up ;  and  the  question  arises,  whether 
there  is  any  limit  to  these  mnemonic  chains  and  more 
or  less  distinct  personalities.  To  meet  such  astound- 
ing facts,  F.  W.  H.  Myers  has  broached  a  hypothesis, 
in  which  he  assiimes  that  every  cell  in  our  bodies  has 
its  own  cellular  personality  with  its  own  particular 
memory,  and  that  every  combination  of  cells  in  or  as- 
sociated w^ith  limbs  or  organs  develop  composite  per- 
sonalities with  associate  memories.  "These,  however, 
do  not  deserve  the  title  of  separate  personalities  (ex- 
cept in  the  sense  in  which  that  word  may  be  applied 
to  the  brute  creation),  and  their  memories  may  never 
come  into  the  human  consciousness  at  all.  Above 
these  rises  the  immense  nervous  apparatus,  which  cor- 
responds to  the  human  mind;  and  of  this  apparatus 
we  habitually  use  only  such  proportion  as  our  English 


THE  HYPNOTIC  SLEEP  PERSONALITY.         95 

vocabulary  bears  to  all  possible  combinations  of  the 
alphabet.  The  letters  of  our  inward  alphabet  will 
shape  themselves  into  many  other  dialects ;  and  many 
other  personalities,  as  distinct  as  those  we  assume  to 
be  ourselves,  can  be  made  out  of  our  mental  material. 
.  .  .  Each  of  the  personalities  within  us  is  itself  the 
summation  of  many  narrower  and  inferior  memories. 
It  is  conceivable  that  there  may  be  for  each  man  a  yet 
more  comprehensive  personality,  which  correlates  and 
comprises  all  known  and  unknown  phases  of  his  being." 

It  would  be  premature  to  accept  this  hyjoothesis  as 
anything  more  than  a  mere  surmise,  but  its  conclusion 
seems  in  the  highest  degree  probable.  That  man,  in 
the  last  analysis,  is  an  indefinite  series  of  personalities, 
is  as  utterly  repugnant  to  self-respect  as  it  is  inherently 
improbable.  We  are  safe  in  concluding  that  the  facts 
of  sleep  personality  emphasize  not  the  mere  divisibility 
of  man,  but  the  boundless  resources  of  his  mind  and 
the  countless  possibilities  of  his  being  for  achievement 
and  for  character. 

And  the  supreme  psychological  importance  of  hyp- 
notism lies  in  the  fact  that  it  furnishes  a  method  for 
cleaving  the  strata  of  consciousness,  for  analyzing  the 
workings  of  the  mental  machinery,  and  for  studying 
in  detail  the  mental  processes.  Like  the  microscope 
in  histology,  the  telescope  in  astronomy,  or  the  spec- 
troscope in  spectrum  analysis,  it  is  a  new  instrument 
of  research. 

G.  While  memory  of  what  occurs  in  the  mesmeric 
trance  generally  fails  to  persist  into  the  waking  state, 
commands  and  suggestions  for  future  action,  then  re- 
ceived, are  likely  to  be  executed  in  due  time — not  as 
the  urgings  of  another  will  but  as  self -suggested.     A 


96  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

clerk,  having  been  hypnotized,  was  told  that  two  and 
two  make  five.  The  next  day  all  his  accounting  went 
wrong,  and  it  was  discovered  that  wherever  two  and 
two  came  together  he  added  them  as  five.  Ilere  the 
sleep  consciousness  overruled  the  normal  working  of 
his  mind.  Promises  made  in  the  trance  are  performed 
on  awaking,  not  as  promises  but  as  irresistible  im- 
pulses. Commands  are  obeyed  under  ill-defined  sense 
of  obligation,  while  suggestions  become  happy  thoughts 
that  demand  heeding. 

Moll  states  that  the  longest  time  of  successful  post- 
hypnotic suggestion  is  recorded  by  Liebeault — one 
year. 

Where  the  suggestion  is  not  carried  out  duly,  the 
idea  of  it  remains  to  torment  the  victim. 

7.  Hence  the  therapeutic  value  of  hypnotism. 
Forel  tells  of  an  old  drunkard  and  would-be  suicide, 
whom  he  recovered :  in  the  trance  it  was  suggested 
to  him  that  ardent  spirits  were  a  curse,  and  he  was 
commanded  to  abstain.  In  consequence,  when  awake, 
he,  seemingly  of  his  own  motion,  became  a  total  ab- 
stainer. This  experiment  has  proved  successful  in 
many  similar  cases.  Habitual  aches,  mostly  neural- 
gias of  various  kinds,  have  been  allayed  in  numberless 
instances.  Baierlacher  claims  to  have  removed  pain 
even  in  a  case  of  cancer  of  the  stomach  and  for  days* 
Chorea  and  hysteria  also  seem  amenable  to  this  treat- 
ment. Bickford-Smith  transferred  a  headache  from 
Leonie  B to  himself,  simply  by  so  willing. 

These  facts  suggest  an  obvious  danger.  The  sub- 
ject is  slave  of  the  operator,  and  may  become  his  help- 
less victim  or  ready  accomplice  in  vice  or  crime.  It  is 
evident  that  the  practice  should  become  matter  for  the 


THE  HYPNOTIC  SLEEP   PERSONALITY.        97 

strictest  legal  regulation.  Liebeault  advises,  as  a  pre- 
ventive of  undue  or  unrighteous  influence,  that  the 
person  enslaved  should  seek  rehypnotization  at  the 
hand  of  a  thoroughly  trustworthy  operator,  who  is  to 
suggest  that  no  other  party  shall  have  power  to  induce 
the  condition.  This,  it  is  claimed,  will  work  complete 
deliverance  from  the  bondage. 

8.  Two  incidental  dangers  beset  this  method  of 
experimentation : 

(1)  Cross-mesmerism — where  the  patient  is  brought 
under  the  influence  of  more  than  one  person  at  a  single 
sitting  ;  when  with  sensitive  subjects  there  are  violent 
contortions  and  refusal  of  obedience  to  suggestion  and 
command.  From  this  state  it  is  difficult  to  arouse  the 
patient,  and  headache  and  physical  discomfort  result. 

(2)  Imperfect  awakening  or  oversudden  rouse- 
ment,  in  the  first  place  subjecting  the  patient  to  all 
the  discomforts  and  mischances  which  may  befall  a 
person  not  in  full  possession  of  normal  consciousness ; 
and  in  the  second,  startling  and  shocking  the  nervous 
system. 

9.  The  general  effect  upon  health  is  in  dispute. 
Probably  it  injures  some  and  benefits  others.  The 
author  would  advise  that  it  be  not  resorted  to  without 
cause,  and  that  all  aimless  and  frivolous  experimenta- 
tion be  strictly  prohibited. 

10.  Hypnosis  only  develops,  in  the  fullest  degree, 
the  natural  possibilities  of  the  subconscious.  Its 
lethargy  is  but  deep  sleep  under  control ;  its  catalep- 
sy nothing  but  intense  dreaming,  when  the  visions  are 
suggested  by  another  imagination ;  its  somnambulism 
ordinary  sleep  talking  and  walking,  directed  by  an- 
other will.     The  powerful  sway  of  the  operator  finds 


98  THE   PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

ample  analogy  in  what  the  world  has  ever  recognized 
as  in  the  scope  of  personal  influence.     Hypnotic  hal- 
lucination is  only  exaggeration  of  a  perfectly  normal 
process  which  tends  to  go  on  in  all  of  us,  and  is  re- 
pressed only  by  memory,  and  a  will  trained  by  experi- 
ence.   Nor  are  its  grander  performances  entirely  with- 
out parallel ;  its  outbursts  of  genius  have  been  equaled 
by  similar  extemporization  in  dreaming,  and  by  the 
accomplishments  of  the  waking  state,  in  exceptional 
persons.     The  fact  merely  indicates  that  very  remark- 
able developments  in  multiple  consciousness  have  long 
since  been  studied  under  the  phrase  "  unconscious  cer- 
ebration."    Socrates   had   his   "  dasmon,"   and   many 
men  have  exhibited  two  contrasted  natures.     There 
was  once  a  Swedish  king  who  entered  a  ballroom,  in 
the  glow  of  healthful  youth,  to  receiv,e  at  the  entrance 
a  note  warning  him  that  his  life  was  in  danger.     He 
tossed  the  missive  contemptuously  aside,  only  to  fall  a 
little  later,  and  in  the  height  of  the  festivities,  under 
the  treacherous  blow  of  the  very  friend  Avho  penned 
the  warning.     The  wretch  in  one  breath  would  slay 
him  and  would  deliver  him,  at  once  best  guardian  and 
crudest  foe.      Lacenaire,  a  famous  French  criminal, 
the  same  day  he  committed  a  murder  risked  his  life 
to  save  that  of  a  cat !     It  is  said  of  Robespierre,  that 
even  while  he  was  the  terror  of  France,  and  wading 
knee-deep  in  the  blood  of  innocence,  to  the  two  sisters 
with  whom  he  boarded  he  was  a  modest,  virtuous  and 
estimable  gentleman,  and  they  mourned  his  loss  sin- 
cerely.    Indeed,  we   find  hints  of   the  same  fact  in 
quite  rudimentary  forms  of  automatism.    James  states 
that,  in  a  perfectly  healtliy  young  man,  who  can  write 
with  the  planchette,  "  I  lately  found  the  hand  to  be  en- 


THE  HYPNOTIC  SLEEP  PERSONALITY.        99 

tirely  anaesthetic  dunng  the  writing  act ;  I  could  prick 
it  severely  without  the  subject  knowing  the  fact.  The 
wa-iting  of  the  planehette,  however,  accused  me  in 
strong  terms  of  hurting  the  hand.  Pricks  on  the 
other  nonwriting  hand,  meanwhile,  which  awakened 
strong  protest  from  the  young  man's  vocal  organs, 
were  denied  to  exist  by  the  self  which  made  the 
planehette  go."  Binet  has  shown  that  in  every  one, 
at  all  times,  subconscious  potentialities  exist,  and  can 
be  aroused,  interrogated  and  educated. 

In  short,  hypnotism  offers  no  new  field  of  researcli, 
but  only  a  new  method  of  exploiting  facts  which, 
witliout  it,  must  be  at  least  suspected.  Some  one  has 
said  that  there  is  nothing  new  in  hypnotism  but  the 
name. 

11.  The  ethical  bearings  of  the  subject  seem  at 
first  confusing ;  but  remember  that  somnambulism  is 
only  dreaming  exaggerated,  and  that  hypnotism  is 
only  somnambulism  exaggerated,  and  the  darkness 
will  clear.  One's  accountability  for  wrong-doing  in 
dreams  is  manifestly  limited  to  the  sinfulness  of  pre- 
vious errors  in  diet,  and  to  the  general  trend  of  char- 
acter ;  and  in  somnambulism  it  is  evident  that  neither 
merit  nor  ill  desert  can  attain  a  high  degree.  The 
same  must  be  true  of  the  hypnotic  condition  :  the  sen- 
sitive is  so  completely  under  controlling  influence  as 
to  be  practically  no7i  cotnpos,  and  can  be  blamed  only 
for  such  utterances  of  character  as  without  compulsion 
flow  forth  from  the  nature  within.  In  the  stage  of 
lethargy  the  patient  is  mere  wax  in  the  hands  of  the 
molder;  in  catalepsy,  the  dream  that  goes  on  is  con- 
trolled by  another ;  and  even  in  the  somnambulistic 
phase,  so  powerful  is  the  suggestion  of  the  operator 


100  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

that  resistance  is  generally  useless,  and  hence  responsi- 
bility at  the  lowest  j)oint  imaginable  ;  and  courts  have 
so  decided  again  and  again.  In  cases  of  multiple  per- 
sonality, freedom  of  action  under  the  new  conditions 
may  develop,  in  time,  into  a  self-control  so  genuine, 
and  a  life  so  varied,  that  accountability  begins  to  re- 
cover its  normal  degree  ;  it  is  much  as  in  the  case  of 
one  who  should  be,  during  different  periods  of  his  life, 
a  clergyman,  a  horse-jockey  and  a  submarine  diver ; 
though  the  same  standards  can  not  be  used  for  each 
and  all  of  his  life  phases,  a  just  judgment  of  his  sub- 
stantial personality  can  conceivably  be  formed.  Leonie, 
Leontine  and  Leonore  may  exhibit  different  facets  of 
character,  but  the  three  are  substantially  and  ethically 
one  and  neither  is  soulless. 

12.  This  subject  should  not  be  dismissed  without 
some  reference  to  its  very  interesting  history. 

Hypnotism  formed  the  ancient  stronghold  of  nec- 
romancy and  sorcery  and  in  all  ages  has  been  the  in- 
strument of  priestcraft,  charlatanry  and  superstition. 
Among  old-time  peoples,  as  now  amid  barbarous  and 
savage  races,  the  ignorant  and  credulous  were  hypno- 
tized, frightened,  swayed,  cajoled,  injured  and  cured, 
by  frauds  and  illusions  innumerable.  Sorcerers  were 
both  deceivers  and  themselves  deceived :  they  dealt 
in  the  dreams,  thought-transference  and  lucidity  of 
hypnosis  ;  they  naturally  were  feared,  courted  and  per- 
secuted. Their  necromancy,  so  far  as  it  had  any  sub- 
stratum of  fact,  was  based  on  what  has  been  described. 

The  "  evil  eye  "  was  nothing  but  the  mesmeric 
glance  of  the  sorcerer,  marring  by  command  and  sug- 
gestion the  life  of  the  hypnotized  victim. 

Crystal  vision  was  a  picturesque  form  of  the  work- 


THE  HYPNOTIC   SLEEP   PERSONALITY.      101 

ing  of  the  same  phenomena.  A  cup  of  ink,  a  crystal 
polished,  a  mirror,  or  even  the  thumb  nail,  was  used ; 
any  reflecting  surface  would  do,  but  crystal  was  pre- 
ferred. A  boy  or  girl  thrown  into  sleep  was  set  to 
gaze  upon  this  surface,  and  on  it  dreams  appeared, 
rendered  objective  by  hallucination.  Sensitives  could 
often  mesmerize  themselves  by  simply  gazing  into  the 
crystal,  with  resulting  dreams,  apparently  externalized. 

The  sibyls  and  other  oracles  of  antiquity  were 
only  sensitives  who  had  displayed  unusual  gifts  in 
thought-transference  ;  they  were  always  hypnotized, 
unless  able  of  themselves  to  fall  into  the  trance.  Sor- 
cerers secured  lads,  often  by  violence,  put  them  to 
sleep,  and  forced  them  to  see  and  prophesy.  The 
girl  of  Philippi  whom  Paul  freed  was  the  wretched 
victim  of  such  scoundrels,  of  whom  Elymas  and  Simon 
Magus  were  fair  specimens.  Oracular  performances 
occurred  amid  much  impressive  iucautation — a  dark- 
ened room,  lamj^s  burning  low,  clouds  of  incense, 
the  sorcerer  in  flowing  robes  of  much  splendor,  and 
the  like. 

The  black, art  of  the  Middle  Age  was  only  a  res- 
toration of  ancient  practices  under  Christian  auspicds, 
with  a  new  vocabulary.  Nothing  occurred  that  science 
is  not  to-day  studying  under  conditions  favorable  to 
solution. 

The  witches  of  those  times  and  later  were  but  evil 
women,  who,  finding  that  they  possessed  a  power  they 
themselves  deemed  Satanic,  used  it  to  annoy  their 
neighbors,  to  vent  their  spites,  to  earn  a  dishonest  liv- 
ing and  to  make  themselves  feared.  It  was  wrong  to 
hang  them,  but  most  of  them  richly  deserved  to  be 
hanged. 


102  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

The  history  of  sorcery,  from  the  beginning  until 
now,  has  been  a  dreary  record  of  gross  immorality  and 
cruel  wrong,  the  strong  ever  preying  on  the  weak. 
The  evils  involved  have  always  seemed  so  many  and 
so  great,  that  in  all  ages  and  lands  it  has  fallen  under 
the  ban,  in  general  forbidden  on  pain  of  death.  Still, 
so  prevalent  has  superstition  proved,  and  such  power- 
ful interests  have  antagonized  repression,  that  prohib- 
itory statutes  have  been  always  and  everywhere  more 
or  less  evaded. 

The  first  qiiasi-scientihG  attempts  to  investigate, 
describe  and  classify  the  facts  were  made  by  Mesmer, 
in  association  with  much  magician's  trumpery.  His 
crude  work  proved  of  little  value  except  to  goad  sci- 
entists to  accurate  study  of  the  phenomena. 

In  1845  Baron  von  Reichenbach  announced  the  dis- 
covery of  a  new  imponderable  force,  which  he  called 
odyl,  and  supposed  to  exist  throughout  the  universe, 
and  to  be  developed  by  magnets,  by  certain  crystals, 
and  by  human  bodies.  Persons  sensitive  to  odyl  saw 
luminous  phenomena  near  the  poles  of  the  magnets 
and  about  the  bodies  of  others  in  whom  the  force  was 
concentrated.  Hence  the  term  anivial  magnetism^ 
which  attached  itself  to  the  whole  class  of  hypnotic 
phenomena. 

Two  American  lecturers  in  1850,  broaching  a 
new  theory  based  upon  electrical  discoveries,  sub- 
stituted the  title  of  electro -biology^  which  became 
popular. 

Braid,  a  surgeon  of  Manchester,  first  subjected  the 
facts  to  accurate  study  in  1842,  and  the  science  of 
hypnotism  received  from  him  both  its  name  and  its 
respectability.     Carpenter  became  his  faithful  expos- 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.  103 

itor,  examining  and  verifying  his  experiments  and 
results.  To-day  many  men  of  great  shrewdness  and 
some  of  eminence  are  pondering  with  deep  interest 
the  facts. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THOUGHT-TRAKSFEKENCE. 

1.  This  remarkable  psychic  fact  has  long  been 
anticipated  in  discovery  by  certain  proverbs  based  on 
an  obscure  perception  of  the  general  law ;  as,  "  Think 
of  an  angel  and  you  shall  see  his  wings,"  or  "  Think  of 
the  devil  and  you  shall  see  his  horns."  Also  by  certain 
facts  never  well  understood,  as  the  joower  most  per- 
sons possess  of  disturbing  another's  flow  of  thought  by 
steady  gaze,  though  the  head  of  the  observed  be  quite 
averted,  or  the  instantaneous  occurrence  of  identical 
ideas  or  w'ords  to  two  or  more  persons  when  together. 
The  discovery  itself,  however,  has  been  recent,  and 
more  so  the  demonstration. 

Thought-transference  is  now  accepted  as  one  of 
the  subconscious  gifts  of  the  human  mind,  very  gen- 
erally by  those  scientists  who  devote  themselves  to 
consideration  of  psychical  phenomena.  It  is  freely 
used  as  a  good  working  theory  in  explanation  of  yet 
more  occult  facts. 

This  theory  is,  that,  subject  to  certain  laws  mostly 
unknown,  thought  leaps  from  one  mind  to  another 
mind  by  processes  unexplained. 

2.  The  phenomena  occur  most  persistently  and 
vividly  in  the  hypnotic  trance,  when  between  opera- 
tor and  sensitive  the  freest  mental  interchange  takes 


104  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

place  :  the  former  may  simply  will  the  latter  to  sleep 
or  to  wake,  to  do  or  to  forbear,  without  sign ;  and  even 
salt  or  pepper  on  the  oj^erator's  tongue  will  cause  the 
patient  to  make  a  wry  face.  One  instance,  of  thou- 
sands at  hand,  is  that  of  a  hysterical  girl  of  fourteen, 
whom  a  certain  Dr.  Dusart  could  will  into  a  mesmeric 
trance  and  arouse  without  a  word  of  command.  More 
than  a  hundred  times  he  did  this  with  perfect  success. 
On  one  occasion  he  left  her  without  giving  the  usual 
order  to  sleep  until  a  particular  hour  next  morning. 
Remembering  the  omission,  he  issued  the  order  men- 
tally when  at  a  distance  of  seven  metres  from  the 
house.  In  the  morning,  when  he  asked  the  2">atient 
how  it  was  that  she  had  slej^t  without  any  command, 
she  replied,  "True,  but  five  minutes  afterward  I 
clearly  heard  you  tell  me  to  sleep  until  eight  o'clock." 
He  then  told  the  patient  to  sleep  until  she  received 
command  to  awake,  and  directed  her  parents  to  mark 
the  exact  hour  of  the  awakening.  At  2  p.  m.  he  gave 
the  order  mentally,  at  a  distance  of  seven  kilometres, 
and  afterward  found  that  it  had  been  punctually 
obeyed  ;  and  this  experiment  was  successfully  repeated 
at  different  hours. 

This  explains,  in  part  at  least,  the  power  of  spirit- 
ualistic mediums.  Falling  into  trance,  or  at  least  a 
similar  subconscious  condition,  they  read  the  minds 
of  sitters,  and  this  forms  their  chief  stock  in  trade. 
The  author  once,  when  four  thousand  miles  from 
home,  sat  with  a  medium,  an  ignorant  sailor  and 
a  total  stranger,  who  gave  him  correctly  his  own 
name  and  the  names  of  mother,  wife  and  wife's 
father,  besides  fishing  up  many  facts  and  names  quite 
forgotten. 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.  105 

3.  But  hypnosis  is  not  a  necessary  condition ;  the 
phenomena  may  characterize  any  state  or  semistate  of 
subconsciousness  —  dreaming,  reverie,  or  unconscious 
cerebration.  This  will  best  appear  in  a  tolerably  full 
account  of  the  most  complete  and  carefully  guarded 
of  the  many  demonstrations.  Kev.  P.  11.  Newnham, 
vicar  of  Maker,  Devonport,  a  respectable  and  intelli- 
gent English  clergyman,  in  1871  instituted  a  series  of 
experiments  covering  a  period  of  eight  months.  The 
results  appear  as  forty  manuscript  pages  of  notes,  and 
among  these  three  hundred  and  nine  replies  auto- 
matically written  by  Mrs.  Newnham  with  planchette,  to 
questions  which  she  did  not  see  nor  hear  and  of  which 
she  could  learn  only  telepathically.  The  wife  always  sat 
at  a  small  table  in  a  low  chair,  with  eyes  shut,  leaning 
backward.  The  vicar  sat  about  eight  feet  distant,  at 
a  rather  high  table,  with  his  back  to  the  lady.  Plan- 
chette would  begin  to  write  instantly,  the  answer  often 
having  been  half  finished  before  the  question  was 
completely  written.  Often  the  sensitive  would  touch 
the  board  with  but  a  single  finger,  and  this  would 
suffice.  She  had  no  faintest  conscious  knowledge  of 
what  was  in  process  of  writing,  and  often  no  hint  as 
to  the  subject  or  drift  of  the  questions.  The  answers 
were  a  curious  combination  of  knowledge  and  igno- 
ranee,  never  beyond  the  mental  powers  of  the  percipi- 
ent, but  on  a  lower  moral  level  than  her  usual  conver- 
sation. She  would  evade  an'd  even  lie,  when  unable 
to  respond  correctly;  though  evasion  and  falsehood 
were  utterly  foreign  to  her  character.  The  answers 
often  did  not  correspond  to  the  opinions  or  expecta- 
tions of  either  party.  Here  was  instantaneous  and 
accurate  thought-transference  extending  over  many 
8 


106  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

months,  through   more  than   three  hundred   formal 
trials,  all  successful. 

4.  On  the  range  of  these  phenomena  we  can  not 
speak  positively,  so  little  is  known  of  the  conditions 
necessary  or  favoring.  Some  persons  seem  more  sus- 
ceptible than  others.  Twins  are  thus  en  rapport  to 
a  wonderful  extent.  Probably  all  have  the  gift  as  a 
latent  potentiality ;  with  a  few  it  is  a  very  luminous 
feature. 

5.  No  limit  has  ever  been  fixed  to  the  distance 
over  which  transference  can  be  effected :  in  the  case 
of  twins  it  has  covered  a  separation  of  thousands  of 
miles.  Nor  has  any  light  yet  been  shed  upon  the 
nature  of  the  medium  nor  upon  the  speed  of  transmis- 
sion. 

6.  The  philosojohical  bearings  of  these  facts  are 
wide-reaching  and  important.  As  thought-transfer- 
ence can  not  be  classed  with  sensations,  and  indicates 
a  quite  other  inlet  for  human  knowledge,  the  sensa- 
tionalism of  Hobbes,  Locke  and  Comte  seems  anni- 
hilated. The  tendency  of  philosophy  in  both  France 
and  England  for  over  three  hundred  years  has  been 
sensationalistic ;  and  nearly  all  the  metaphysicians  of 
these  two  countries  have  built  their  systems  upon  the 
postulate,  that  human  knowledge  comes  only  through 
the  senses.  It  now  appears  that  we  must  push  out 
the  stakes  and  lengthen  the  cords  of  our  canopy  of 
thought.  It  would  seem  that  knowledge  may  enter 
unawares,  in  accordance  with  laws  of  which  sensation- 
alists and  positivists  have  known  nothing. 

This  discovery  removes  from  the  theological  doc- 
trine of  a  divine  inspiration  the  stigma  of  violating 
probabilities.     Inspiration  has  become  the  most  fea- 


LUCIDITY.  107 

sible  and  natural  of  religious  processes ;  indeed,  it  is 
no  longer  even  an  unlikely  phenomenon.  That  an 
Intelligence  above  us  should  drop  thoughts  into  the 
human  mind  seems  the  simplest  and  most  reasonable 
method  of  communication  between  the  seen  and  the 
unseen  worlds. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

LUCIDITY. 

1.  Correlated  with  thought-transference  we 
have  the  very  different  though  no  less  amazing  fact 
of  lucidity,  or  "  second  sight,"  which  seems  to  be  the 
working  of  a  supersensuous  subconscious  vision,  dis- 
cerning matters  utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  any  known 
organ. 

2.  History  gives  us  instances  of  the  exercise  of 
this  kind  of  knowledge,  but  until  recently  science  has 
treated  them  with  contempt.  Gregory  of  Tours  tells 
us  that  Ambrose,  having  fallen  asleep  while  saying 
mass  in  the  cathedral  of  Milan,  dreamed  that  St.  Mar- 
tin had  just  died  at  Tours,  in  accord  with  the  exact 
facts.  Swedenborg  claimed  to  have  seen  the  great 
fire  in  London  while  it  progressed,  and  though  in 
Stockholm  at  the  time. 

3.  This  gift  also,  like  thought-transference,  mani- 
fests itself  in  a  marked  degree  during  the  mesmeric 
trance,  and  is  an  important  feature  of  genuine  medi- 
umship.  It  has  given  to  heathen  sorceries  and  the 
art  magic,  to  soothsaying  and  crystal  vision  their  un- 
canny significance ;  and  it  has  always  been  a  question 


108         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

whether  dreams  do  not  derive  a  grave  meaning  at 
times  from  its  exercise. 

4.  The  evidence  has  of  late  years  accumulated,  and 
that  such  a  gift  is  possessed  by  some  at  least  seems  no 

longer  questionable.     Madame  B (Leonie-Leon- 

tine-Leonore),  when  hypnotized,  possesses  this  power 
to  a  remarkable  degree.  Janet,  Eichet  and  other  ex- 
perts have  subjected  this  woman  to  every  variety  of 
test.  We  give  in  Richet's  own  words  his  methods 
of  procedure  and  calculation  of  chances :  "  From 
the  midst  of  ten  packs  of  fifty-two  cards  each,  I 
drew  at  hazard  a  cai-d,  which  I  placed  in  an  opaque 
envelope.  I  did  this  in  low  light  at  one  end  of  my 
library,  which  is  nearly  five  metres  in  length,  Leonie 
sitting  at  the  opposite  end,  with  her  back  to  me.  .  .  . 
The  envelope  was  gummed,  and  I  closed  it  at  once. 
.  .  .  The  name  of  the  card  indicated  by  Leonie  was 
written  by  her  in  full,  or  written  by  me  before  the  en- 
velope was  opened,  and  I  kept  an  exact  accovint  of  all 
the  experiments  made.  No  conscious  or  unconscious, 
mental  or  nonmental  suggestion  could  be  made  by 
me,  since  I  was  totally  ignorant  of  the  card  placed  in 
the  envelope." 

Thus  proceeding,  in  sixty-eight  trials  Leonie  sev- 
enteen times  offered  full  description.  Of  cards  en- 
tirely right,  with  an  antecedent  probability  of  only 
one  or  two,  Leonie  guessed  twelve ;  of  cards  with  suit 
right,  with  antecedent  probability  of  seventeen,  she 
guessed  forty-five  ;  of  cards  with  color  right,  with  an- 
tecedent probability  of  thirty-four,  she  guessed  forty- 
five.  The  chances  in  favor  of  this,  not  allowing  for 
a  law  of  lucidity,  were  one  in  one  billion  of  billions. 
Bickford  Smith,  a  wealthy  English  gentleman,  who 


LUCIDITY,  109 

was  permitted  to  hypnotize  Leonie,  asked  her  for  a 
description  of  his  father's  country  house  in  England. 
This  she  gave,  with  minute  particulars  in  every  regard 
correct.  She  expressed  surprise  at  the  size  of  the 
kitchen  and  the  number  of  the  books  in  the  library. 
She  placed  several  peculiar  trees,  and  described  the 
gardeners  and  other  underlings  at  their  work. 

On  the  27th  of  a  certain  September,  Leonie  de- 
scribed a  bicycle  race,  which  did  not  occur  until  the 
29th  ;  she  named  the  winner,  and  said  that  there 
would  be  three  prizes  for  him — a  fact  no  one  could  rea- 
sonably have  anticipated ;  her  improbable  prophecy  was 
fultilled  by  a  telegraphically  added  prize  from  the  min- 
ister of  war,  which,  with  what  was  called  the  "  lap  prize," 
made  three  in  all.     Cases  as  remarkable  multiply. 

Braid,  of  Manchester,  an  unimpeachable  witness, 
narrates  the  story  of  an  ignorant  girl  unacquainted 
with  music  and  the  grammar  of  her  own  language, 
who,  hypnotized,  in  his  presence  sang  songs  in  foreign 
languages  with  Jenny  Lind,  with  a  pronunciation  and 
intonation  so  exact  that  persons  not  very  near  sup- 
posed there  was  but  one  voice,  and  that  the  Swedish 
Nightingale's. 

5.  Lucidity,  also,  aims  a  deadly  blow  at  the  sensa- 
tional philosophy.  If  a  clairvoyant  may  learn  the 
markings  of  concealed  cards,  see  visions  of  what  is 
yet  to  occur,  describe  houses  and  people  hundreds  of 
miles  away,  "  speak  with  tongues,"  and  anticipate  the 
refinements  of  finished  art,  then  the  popular  schools 
of  modern  psychologists  are  without  a  philosophy. 
Moreover,  these  facts,  like  those  of  telepathy,  serve  to 
remove  a  reproach  of  long  standing  from  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  which  have  been  arraigned  by  scientists 


110  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

for  recording  unnatural  displays  of  psychic  power  on 
the  part  of  the  prophets  of  Judaism.  The  prophetic 
insight  of  the  Hebrew  seers  can  no  longer  be  stig- 
matized as  unnatural.  They  surely  saw  visions  and 
dreamed  dreams ;  the  distant  and  the  future  appeared 
to  them  as  a  shifting  panorama  ;  and  if  their  behold- 
ings  proved  viridical,  the  facts  did  not  contravene  what 
we  now  know  to  be  the  bounds  of  reason. 

6.  Lucidity  and  thought-transference  will  account, 
in  jjart,  at  least,  for  the  rise  of  religion  among  prime- 
val savages.  The  seers  became  prophets  of  mystery, 
and  in  time  rose  to  some  little  glimpse  of  the  moral 
order  of  the  universe :  at  first  mere  medicine  men, 
deceiving  and  deceived,  they  slowly  ascended  into  a 
lordlier  realm  of  spiritual  insight  and  religious  guid- 
ance. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

HALLUCINATIOJSr. 

1.  We  must  distinguish  hallucination  from  illu- 
sion. One  may  be  deceived  by  his  diseased  senses — as 
when,  during  the  sufferance  of  a  cold  in  his  head,  he 
smells  smoke  constantly,  and  goes  through  his  dwell- 
ing in  search  for  fire ;  as  when,  if  a  victim  of  catarrh  of 
the  middle  ear,  he  hears  drums,  gongs  and  bells  sound- 
ing loudly,  and  now  and  then  is  startled  by  the  dis- 
tinct calling  of  his  name ;  as  when — the  retina  hyper- 
sensitive— he  sees  the  specter  of  some  dear  friend,  in 
mere  renewal  of  an  old  visual  sensation :  this  is  illu- 
sion. Hallucination,  as  we  use  it,  is  simply  the  exter- 
nalizing of  ideas. 


HALLUCINATION.  HI 

2.  Its  history  is  a  profound  study  iu  psychology. 
It  begins  with  the  savage  condition,  and  because  it 
pre-eminently  characterizes  childhood.  One  of  the 
many  difficult  lessons  of  childhood  is  to  distinguish 
between  impressions  from  without  and  ideas  within, 
notions  are  so  vivid :  easily  the  rag  baby  becomes  a 
Avell-dressed  living  personality ;  readily  the  hobby  horse 
attains  the  size,  grace,  spirit  and  speed  of  a  thorough- 
bred ;  and  if  the  imagination  be^musually  active,  the 
child  is  in  serious  danger  of  becoming  a  gay  romancer, 
in  time  to  be  branded  as  an  arrant  liar. 

The  savage  conditions  representing  the  childhood 
of  the  race  is  beset  by  the  same  peril.  Savages  exter- 
nalize ideas  and  fill  the  world  with  their  fancies ;  they 
believe  even  their  sleeping  dreams.  A  savage  dreams 
of  his  friend,  of  his  horse,  of  his  dog,  of  the  trees,  the 
landscape,  the  stars  ;  and  he  infers  that  not  only  friend 
and  enemy,  but  that  animals,  inert  things,  the  moon 
and  the  stars,  have  shadowy  souls,  and  that  these  va- 
porous spirits  actually  come  to  him  in  his  sleep. 
Hence  their  almost  universal  belief  in  immortality, 
and  the  pathetic  custom  of  placing  on  the  graves  of 
the  dead  weapons,  utensils  and  food  ;  for  the  shades 
of  these  things,  it  is  supposed,  will  accompany  the 
soul  of  the  buried  into  the  land  of  shadows.  Hence 
also  the  slaughter  of  wives  and  slaves,  horses  and  dogs, 
over  the  burial  place  of  a  chieftain.  So  tenaciously 
does  this  superstition,  based  on  hallucination,  persist 
and  push  up  even  into  low  grades  of  civilization,  that 
down  to  1781  the  ancient  funeral  sacrifice  of  the  war- 
rior's horse  was  recognized  at  Treves  by  leading  a  dead 
soldier's  horse  to  his  grave.  A  piece  of  money  is  still 
put  into  the  hands  of  a  corpse  at  an  Irish  wake  ;  and 


112         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

in  most  countries  of  Europe  may  still  be  seen  the  set- 
ting out  of  offerings  of  food  for  the  departed.  All 
this  time-honored  superstition  arises  from  the  exter- 
nalizing of  mere  ideas. 

From  the  same  cause  arise  fetich  worship,  Na- 
ture worship,  and  in  time  an  elaborate  mythology. 
The  Fiji  Islan(^ers  used  to  celebrate  great  sacrificial 
feasts  to  their  gods.  These  religious  ceremonies,  how- 
ever, were  mere  orgies  of  gluttony,  as  all  the  animals 
slain  were  greedily  devoured ;  the  deities  were  sup- 
posed to  be  satisfied  with  the  souls  of  the  departed 
beasts.  "  In  India,"  says  Dubois,  "  a  woman  adores 
her  market  basket,  and  offers  sacrifice  to  it  as  well  as 
to  the  rice  mill  and  other  household  implements.  A 
carpenter  does  like  homage  to  his  hatchet,  adze  and 
other  tools,  and  likewise  offers  sacrifice  to  them.  A 
Brahman  does  so  to  the  style  with  which  he  is  going 
to  write,  a  soldier  to  the  arms  he  is  to  use  in  the  field, 
a  mason  to  his  trowel,  and  a  farmer  to  his  plow." 
The  worship  of  plants,  animals,  stones,  water,  wind, 
sky,  ocean,  etc.,  is  inevitable  at  an  early  stage  of  hu- 
man culture. 

3.  While  savages  externalize  their  dreams  after  they 
awake  as  well  as  before,  even  the  most  intelligent  and 
civilized  do  so  at  least  during  sleep.  A  very  Plato,  a 
Shakespeare-,  a  Darwin,  must  for  the  time  fall  under 
the  sway  of  his  own  vagrant  fancies  and  believe  them 
real.  The  facts  of  dreaming,  which  we  have  fully 
presented,  are  largely  the  working  of  this  simple  law 
of  hallucination. 

The  same  is  true  of  both  natural  and  induced  som- 
nambulism, as  we  have  observed  :  the  mind,  dreaming, 
externalizes  its  visions. 


HALLUCINATION.  113 

4.  Allied  to  the  myth  and  dream  fantasy  of  the 
mind,  we  must  consider  its  romancing  gift.  The 
poets,  novelists  and  artists  have  all  been  dreamers, 
their  life  work  to  produce  in  others  a  hallucination 
they  voluntarily  summon  up  in  themselves ;  they  see 
fictions  and  make  them  real,  as  landscape,  as  history, 
as  personal  beauty.  All  great  art  creators  come  to 
know  their  own  handiwork  by  a  kind  of  recognition, 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  actual  acquaintance. 
And  active  minds  respond  in  a  kindred  hallucination, 
joyfully  self-imposed.  A  Ulysses,  a  King  Arthur,  a 
William  Tell,  a  Pickwick,  a  St.  Cecilia,  a  Venus  de 
Milo,  become  as  delightfully  real  to  the  imaginative, 
as  though  the  legend,  the  novel,  the  painting  or  the 
statue  were  historical  portrayal. 

5.  Hallucination  is  produced  by  certain  narcotics, 
which  occasion  mental  conditions  varying  from  the 
profound  quiet  of  perfect  sleep  to  the  most  vivid 
dreaming  or  the  most  active  somnambulism.  These 
drugs  paralyze  the  will,  deaden  the  moral  nature,  con- 
fuse the  reason  and  dull  the  senses,  at  the  same  time 
that  they  more  or  less  excite  the  cerebro-spinal  gan- 
glia. If  taken  in  doses  appropriate  to  produce  the 
effect,  hallucination  is  inevitable.  The  narcotized  per- 
son dreams,  and,  it  may  be,  acts  his  dreams ;  but  the 
dreaming  is  intensely  spectacular,  and  the  acting  often 
bitterest  tragedy. 

Tobacco,  though  one  of  the  least  harmful  of  the 
narcotics  usually  abused,  is  yet  noxious  in  every  case 
and  dangerous  in  many.  Its  first  effect  is  to  stimu- 
late the  faculties  and  soothe  the  feelings ;  its  final  re- 
sult is  to  lessen  mental  power  and  enfeeble  the  will. 
It  is  said  that  no  young  man  has  graduated  valedicto- 


114  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

rian  at  Harvard  College  who  was  an  habitual  user  of 
this  drug.  Upon  the  young  its  action  is  peculiarly 
harmful. 

De  Quincey  has  portrayed  vividly  the  deleterious 
effects  of  morphine  on  the  same  line  of  mental  disease. 
He  says :  "  Whatsoever  things  capable  of  being  visually 
represented  I  did  but  think  of  in  the  darkness,  im- 
mediately shaped  themselves  into  phantoms  of  the 
eye ;  and  by  a  process  apparently  no  less  inevitable, 
when  once  thus  traced  in  faint  and  visionary  colors, 
like  writings  in  sympathetic  ink,  they  were  drawn  out 
by  the  fierce  chemistry  of  my  dreams  into  insufferable 
splendor  that  fretted  my  heart."  Besides  these  phan- 
toms, projected  against  the  darkness,  there  was  a 
dream  life  of  marvelous  intensity.  "  Under  the  con- 
necting feeling  of  tropical  heats  and  vertical  sunlights, 
I  brought  together  all  creatures,  beasts,  birds  and  rep- 
tiles, all  trees  and  plants,  all  usages  and  appearances 
that  are  found  in  tropical  regions,  and  assembled  them 
together  in  China  and  Hindostan.  From  kindred 
feelings  I  soon  brought  Egypt  and  all  her  gods  under 
the  same  law,  I  was  stared  at,  hooted  at,  grinned  at 
by  monkeys,  by  paroquets,  by  cockatoos.  I  ran  into 
pagodas,  and  was  fixed  for  centuries  at  the  summit  or 
in  secret  rooms.  I  was  the  idol,  I  was  the  priest,  I 
was  worshiped,  I  was  sacrificed.  I  fled  from  the 
wrath  of  Brahma  through  all  the  forests  of  Asia,  .  .  . 
I  was  buried  for  a  thousand  years  in  stone  coffins 
with  mummies  and  sphinxes,  in  narrow  chambers  at 
the  heart  of  eternal  pyramids.  I  was  kissed  with  can- 
cerous kisses  by  crocodiles,  and  lay  confounded  with 
unutterably  slimy  things  among  reeds  and  Nilotic 
mud." 


HALLUCINATION.  115 

The  fantasy  of  alcoholic  intoxication,  in  time  cul- 
minating in  the  horrors  of  delirium  tremens,  is  known 
to  all.  In  its  first  stages  the  ganglia  narcotized  are 
stimulated,  and  there  are  dancing,  laughter  and  chat- 
ter. Later,  the  mind  begins  to  externalize  its  throng- 
ing ideas,  and  the  muscles  to  succumb  to  the  second- 
ary stupefying  effect  of  the  poison.  Now  the  inebriate 
staggers,  unable  to  co-ordinate  movements  perfectly, 
and  hallucination  becomes  a  prominent  symptom  and 
may  rise  into  mania.  This  is  the  dangerous  stage, 
when  victims  become  suicides  and  murderers.  Finally, 
a  lethargy  ends  all  psychic  phenomena.  In  the  trem- 
bling delirium  hallucination  is  the  principal  symptom. 

G.  Fevers,  in  like  manner  and  degree,  exciting  the 
nerve  cells  of  the  brain,  through  a  poison  generated  in 
the  blood  or  through  mere  hypertemia,  jjroduce  simi- 
lar results. 

7.  Madness  caps  the  climax  by  persistent,  intense 
and  tragic  externalizing  of  ideas,  especially  that  form 
which  is  called  intellectual  insanity.  Here  hallu- 
cination is  the  chief  symptom,  and  the  phenomena 
those  generally  pertaining  to  incoherent  and  troubled 
dreaming.  Emotional  insanity  is  less  characterized 
by  objectivity  of  ideas,  and  rather  rouses  to  white  heat 
states  of  feeling.  Some  one  has  said  that  the  intellec- 
tually insane  are  furious  dreamers,  the  emotionally 
mad  dreaming  furies ;  neither  has  self-control,  nor 
is  swayed  effectually  by  judgment,  reason  or  con- 
science, and  both  are  prey  to  nervous  disease. 

Insanity  presents  no  new  facts ;  it  gives  us  what 
we  have  abundantly  in  dreaming,  hypnotism  and  the 
narcotic  excitement,  only  more  of  it  and  for  longer 
periods.     It  is  chronic  hallucination. 


116  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

It  is  a  very  common  affection.  One  of  the  authors's 
hobbies  is,  that  every  tenth  person  is  insane  and  that 
every  person  is  one  tenth  insane.  That  is,  no  one  is 
perfectly  mind-balanced,  while  many  are  seriously  and 
up  to  the  boundaries  of  chronic  hallucination  de- 
fective. Guiteau,  who  murdered  President  Garfield, 
though  he  seemed  only  a  crank,  in  the  autopsy  dis- 
played marked  departui-es  in  the  condition  of  his 
brain.  Probably  all  cranks  would  be  found,  on  post- 
mortem examination,  to  have  been  afflicted  with  simi- 
lar lackiugs  or  disease  of  central  nerve  tissue.  Any 
one  can  become  insane  by  extreme  and  prolonged  ac- 
tivity of  the  mind  or  by  brooding  over  evils ;  habits 
of  health,  laughter,  sunshine,  charity,  patience  and 
moderation  are  the  preventives. 

8.  Hallucination  is  in  itself  a  perfectly  natural 
process ;  the  dangerous  element  in  it  is  its  tendency 
to  disturb  the  rightful  balance  of  related  intensities. 
We  shall  see  later  that  sensations  are  more  intense 
than  perceptions,  and  these  are  more  so  than  memo- 
ries, while  memories  are  more  vivid  than  purely  im- 
aginative ideas;  and  that  the  mind  distinguishes 
between  these  grades  of  mentality  by  a  nice  discrimi- 
nation of  intensities.  Disturb  the  ratio,  and  the  cor- 
rect discrimination  becomes  impossible.  It  is  easily 
disturbed  in  the  child,  because  not  yet  fully  estab- 
lished ;  and  in  the  savage,  because  so  far  as  subtler 
mental  processes  are  concerned  they  are  children. 
And  with  all  men  when  outside  impressions  entirely 
fail,  in  dreaming  no  distinction  can  be  made,  and 
attention  is  rapt  and  deceived.  Narcotics,  fevers,  and 
madness  produce  a  like  result  by  so  overstimulating 
the  ideational  activity  of  the  brain  as  to  cause  in  the 


HALLUCINATION.  117 

intense  vividness  of  the  conception  an  outdazzling 
of  the  distinction.  With  au  inebriated,  delirious,  or 
mad  man  outside  reality  compared  with  inner  fantasy 
is  but  as  a  taper  in  the  noonday  sunshine.  And  po- 
etry, fiction  and  other  fine  arts  present  the  same  un- 
balancing process,  with  delight  self-induced. 

9.  Hence  the  great  importance  of  guarding  against 
our  ideas.  Sir  William  Hamilton  well  remarks :  "  Noth- 
ing is  more  dangerous  to  reason  than  the  flights  of  the 
imagination,  and  nothing  has  been  the  occasion  of 
more  mistakes  among  philosophers.  Men  of  bright, 
fancies  in  this  respect  may  be  compared  to  those  an- 
gels whom  the  Scriptures  represent  as  covering  their 
eyes  with  their  wings." 


SECTION  IV. 
THE  PSYCHOLOGY   OF  DISEASE. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

HYSTERIA. 

1.  This  distressing  malady  chiefly  attacks  young 
and  nervous  women,  and  is  marked  by  outbursts  of 
emotional  excitement,  convulsive  bodily  movements, 
hyi^offistbesia  and  hypera?sthesia,  and  incomplete  and 
transient  paralysis.  Intensely  psychic  in  all  its  symp- 
toms, it  is  marked  by  inordinate  egotism,  hilarity,  de- 
pression, assumption  of  pretended  diseases,  catalepsy, 
trance  and  ecstasy. 

2.  It  is  a  contagious  affliction,  and  simulates  the 
manner  and  method  of  the  zymotic  disorders.  Car- 
penter's story  of  the  mewing  sisters  will  illustrate  this 
point.  The  malady  began  in  the  hysterical  tendency 
of  a  young  girl  to  mew  just  as  the  clock  struck  nine 
and  the  morning  session  of  the  convent  school  was 
about  to  open.  Soon  other  nervous  girls  caught  the 
infection,  and  the  solo  became  a  chorus.  Finally,  all 
the  young  ladies  without  exception  mewed,  and  the 
father  was  at  his  wits'  end.  One  morning,  however, 
he  appeared  with  a  horsewhip  and  anticipated  the 


HYSTERIA.  119 

stroke  of  nine  by  threatening  to  flog  the  first  who 
should  commence  the  concert ;  and  his  firmness  was 
rewarded  with  silence. 

The  dancing  mania  of  the  Middle  Age,  named  after 
St.  Vitus,  was  a  much  more  serious  malady.  Fits  of 
nervous  jactation,  leaping  and  convulsion  spread  like 
cholera  over  Europe.  Groups  of  temporary  lunatics 
went  whirling  along  the  roads  and  through  the  city 
streets  attracting  the  ill-balanced  and  spreading  dis- 
may. Those  who  came  to  look  on  and  laugh  stayed 
to  dance  and  follow  suit. 

As  nearly  all  intense  religious  experience  predis- 
poses to  emotional  excitement,  it  is  not  strange  that 
with  low-grade  intelligence  hysteria  should  accompany 
fanatical  crusades,  camp  meetings  and  revivals ;  the 
remarkable  fact  is  that  the  disease  seems  to  be  "  catch- 
ing " — one  starts  another,  and  a  few  excite  many.  Dur- 
ing the  early  camp-meeting  period  of  Kentucky,  when 
that  State  was  on  the  border  and  civilization  raw,  it 
was  customary  to  plant  stakes  throughout  the  praying 
grounds  for  support  of  those  who  caught  the  "jerks." 

3.  But  we  are  not  to  press  the  analogy  of  contagion 
too  far.  Some  experimental  psychologists  of  eminence 
plausibly  advance  the  hypothesis  that  hysteria  is  not 
so  much  the  disease  of  any  organ  as  a  general  disturb- 
ance of  nervous  equilibrium.  Says  Myers  :  "  Hysteria 
is  not  a  lesion  but  a  displacement ;  it  is  a  withdrawal 
of  certain  nervous  energies  from  the  plane  of  the  pri- 
mary personality,  but  those  energies  still  potentially 
subsist,  and  they  can  again  be  placed  by  proper  man- 
agement under  the  n'ormal  control." 

Janet  insists  that  no  amount  of  hysterical  disturb- 
ance, however  prolonged  or  profound,  need  be  regarded 


120  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

as  incurable.     At  present  the  most  approved  medical 
treatment  is  by  hypnosis  and  suggestion. 

4.  But  better  tlian  cure  is  prevention.  The  hys- 
terical should  receive  early  training  in  self-control. 
Moreover,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  such  tempera- 
ments morbidly  crave  notice,  sympathy  and  attention. 
With  them  to  cause  an  excitement,  to  stir  a  thrilling 
sensation,  is  simply  an  overmastering  passion.  Hence 
the  need  of  systematic  repression  and  sympathetic 
neglect.  When  a  "  crisis  "  approaches,  incredulity,  in- 
difference, contempt  and  even  sarcasm  are  indicated. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  added  that  in  chorea  as  well  as  in 
hysteria,  and  likewise  in  all  purely  nervous  diseases, 
observation  of  symptoms  and  unnecessary  sympathy 
aggravate  the  evil.  Nervous  movements  should  never 
be  commented  upon  nor  even  noticed  ;  and  if  medi- 
cally treated,  it  should  be  done,  if  possible,  without 
the  patient's  learning  the  fact. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

c 

CEIMINALITY. 

1.  Teaces  of  criminality  may  be  found  among 
animals — witness  the  "rogue  elephant,"  which,  once 
a  member  of  some  herd  and  now  driven  forth  by  the 
others,  becomes  morose,  treacherous  and  murderous, 
much  to  be  feared  not  only  by  men  but  also  by  its 
former  associates. 

2.  Ellis  defines  criminality  as  a  "failure  to  live  up 
to  the  standard  recognized  as  binding  by  the  commu- 
nity.    The  criminal  is  an  individual  whose  organiza- 


CRIMINALITY.  121 

tion  makes  it  difficult  or  impossible  to  live  in  accord- 
ance with  this  standard,  and  easy  to  risk  the  penalties 
of  acting  antisocially." 

3.  As  such  organizations  are  sure  to  occur,  crimi- 
nality has  ever  been  a  marked  characteristic  of  all 
social  life  among  each  race  of  men  and  in  every  age. 
No  moral  earnestness  in  any  community,  no  political 
wisdom  of  any  school  of  statesmen,  has  sufficed  to 
eradicate  these  dark  blots  on  human  nature.  Per- 
sistency and  inevitability  are  their  most  perplexing 
features. 

4.  There  are  distinct  kinds  as  well  as  many  degrees 
of  criminality.  We  have  the  criminal  of  passion,  the 
occasional  criminal,  the  habitual  and  the  congenital. 
This  variation  depends  upon  the  causes  of  aberration, 
and  these  causes  are  immediate  and  remote. 

5.  The  immediate  causes  may  be  viewed  i^sycho- 
logically  or  pathologically. 

(1)  Viewed  psychologically,  they  are  : 

(a)  Overmastering  passions  yoked  with  selfishness 
of  disposition.     This  gives  us  the  criminal  of  passion. 

(b)  A  weak  will  and  failure  of  principle.  This 
gives  us  the  criminal  of  occasion. 

(c)  When  these  two  causes  combine — strong  pas- 
sions and  weak  will — the  habitual  criminal  results. 

(2)  Viewed  pathologically,  the  causes  are  : 

(a)  Nerve  defect.  Nearly  all  criminals  are  de- 
ficient in  sensitiveness  of  end  organs,  except  in  matters 
of  sharpness  of  vision.  In  mental  and  moral  endow- 
ment they  are  almost  universally  deficient. 

(b)  Nerve  disease,  occasioning  unhealthy  action  of 
nerve  centers.  Hardened  criminals  are  generally  dis- 
eased with  far-reaching  constitutional  ailments,  and  it 

9 


122  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

is  usually  easy  in  post  ynortems  to  discover  serious  brain 
lesions. 

6.  The  remote  causes  are  : 

(1)  Atavism,  or  reversion  to  ancestral  types.  Ellis 
remarks  that  our  own  criminals  frequently  resemble 
in  physical  and  psychical  characters  the  normal  indi- 
viduals of  a  lower  race.  These  abnormal  natures  are 
simply  organizations  out  of  date,  that  in  an  early  sav- 
age state  would  have  proved  current  as  good  citizens. 

(2)  Inherited  virus,  especially  alcoholism,  insanity 
and  idiocy  in  parents.  Indeed,  criminality  in  this 
form  is  merely  hereditary  disease,  which  descends  in 
moral  scrofula,  a  horrid  aptitude  for  evil-doing,  from 
parent  to  child.  We  need  only  cite  the  case  of  the 
infamous  Jukes  family.  The  frightful  story  begins 
in  the  drunkenness,  idleness  and  profligacy  of  one 
family,  and  continues  through  five  subsequent  gener- 
ations, tracing  the  careers  of  seven  hundred  and  nine 
of  the  twelve  hundred  descendants,  who  were  for  the 
most  part  criminals  and  prostitutes,  vagabonds  and 
paupers.  Of  all  the  men,  not  twenty  were  skilled 
workmen,  and  ten  of  these  learned  their  trade  in 
prison.  One  hundred  and  eighty  received  outdoor 
relief  to  an  aggregate  of  eight  hundred  years  record- 
ed, and  of  (probably)  twenty-three  hundred  years  in 
all,  at  a  cost  to  the  public  of  one  million  dollars.  Of 
the  seven  hundred  and  nine,  seventy-six  were  crimi- 
nals, committing  one  hundred  and  fifteen  proved  of- 
fenses. More  than  half  of  the  women  for  six  gener- 
ations were  notoriously  unchaste. 

(.3)  Failure  of  education,  leaving  the  child  the  vic- 
tim of  idleness,  poverty  and  contempt. 

(4)  Unfavorable  environment,  by  which  is  meant 


CRIMINALITY.  123 

overcrowding,  vicious  and  criminal  surroundings,  in- 
suflicient  and  unwholesome  food,  and  all  those  con- 
ditions not  sanitary  which  breed  uncleanliness,  im- 
modesty, rudeness  and  disease. 

(5)  Excessive  luxury,  pampering  the  passions, 
encouraging  selfishness,  enfeebling  self-control  and 
diseasing  the  body,  may  bring  about  like  results.  So- 
ciety has  been  not  badly  likened  to  a  mug  of  beer,  the 
froth  on  the  top  and  the  dregs  at  the  bottom. 

7.  All  criminality  tends  to  assume  an  infectious 
and  contagious  character.  The  evil  act  of  one  dull 
nature  shows  to  other  dull  natures  a  line  of  least  re- 
sistance for  criminal  instinct,  and  one  evil-doer  begets 
many.  Thus  crimes  often  seem  "  catching "  ;  they 
come  in  local  visitations,  and  prevail  in  certain  places 
as  veritable  epidemics,  threatening  the  very  existence 
of  society. 

It  is  quite  a  common  occurrence  for  epidemics  of 
suicide  to  break  out  in  regiments  of  the  French  army, 
and  it  has  become  customary,  on  first  symptoms  of  this 
mania,  to  remove  the  body  of  troops  so  afflicted  to  some 
distant  region  in  order  to  divert  attention  and  improve 
the  general  sanitary  condition.  Dr.  F.  W.  Russell  has 
stated  that  a  lady  patient  of  his,  on  reading  a  sensa- 
tional newspaper  account  of  the  suicide  of  a  drunkard, 
became  possessed  of  the  idea,  and  in  a  few  days  took 
her  own  life.  Another,  a  friend  of  both  parties,  caught 
the  dreadful  contagion,  and  followed  in  the  same  awful 
course  of  folly.  At  least  two  cases,  and  probably  three, 
attended  by  circumstances  perfectly  hideous,  one  in 
Australia  and  one  in  the  West,  have  been  directly 
traceable  to  the  Whitechapel  horrors,  perpetrated  by 
the  wretch  who  signed  himself  "  Jack  the  Eipper." 


124  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

8.  Where  conditions  fovor,  as  in  large  cities,  a 
criminal  class — professional  assailants  of  society,  from 
whose  ranks  the  prisons  are  regularly  supplied,  and 
who  admire  and  emulate  everything  base  because  it 
is  base — comes  to  the  front. 

9.  There  is  also  a  literature  of  vice  and  crime,  yel- 
low-covered romances,  dime  novels,  police  gazettes,  and 
daily  newspapers,  pandering  to  prurient  imagications, 
in  minute  descri^ition  picturing  the  criminal  as  a  hero, 
and  furnishing  to  dull,  vulgar  minds  the  needed  de- 
tails for  felonious  action,  all  highly  stimulant  of  brutal 
desires  and  purposes.  We  may  be  sure  that,  could  the 
criminal  items  of  the  daily  press  be  expunged,  the  rate 
of  felonies  would  go  down  one  half. 

10.  One  of  the  most  prominent  features  of  the  law- 
breaking  temperament  is  its  levity.  The  deep-plan- 
ning villains  of  romance  have  no  existence  in  real  life. 
Milton's  magnificent  Satan  is  a  mere  poet's  dream. 
Criminals  are  often  cunning  but  never  wise  :  thought- 
less, illogical,  the  victims  of  a  monstrous  egotism,  blown 
hither  and  thither  by  gusts  of  passion,  they  are  lighter 
than  vanity,  their  mental  processes  contemptible,  their 
conclusions  inconsequential,  and  all  their  conduct  per- 
vaded by  an  insane  unreasonableness.  They  are  sel- 
dom personally  or  mentally  interesting,  and  generally 
dull,  gross,  repulsive  and  incapable. 

11.  The  remedies  are  : 

(1)  Improved  compulsory  sanitation.  We  quar- 
antine cholera,  vaccinate  against  smallpox  and  main- 
tain expensive  boards  of  health.  It  has  come  to  be 
viewed  as  a  public  duty  to  guarantee  to  citizens  the 
conditions  of  bodily  health  ;  and  government  is  deemed 
society  in  its  preservative  and  self-regulative  functions. 


CRIMINALITY.  125 

It  follows  that  we  owe  it  to  the  poor  and  ignorant,  and 
as  well  to  the  luxurious,  to  regulate  their  methods  of 
life  in  the  interests  of  a  moral  sanitation.  To  prevent 
overcrowding,  debasing  poverty  and  discontent  among 
the  poor,  and  no  less  enfeebling  luxury  among  the  rich, 
is  the  right  and  duty  of  society.  Cleanliness,  decency, 
sobriety,  industry  and  self-restraint  should  be,  and  in 
time  will  be,  enforced  ujion  all  citizens. 

(2)  Thorough  education.  The  claim  recently  and 
often  made  that  a  large  number-  of  criminals  are  edu- 
cated, is  utterly  groundless.  Superintendent  Brock- 
way,  of  the  Elmira  Reformatory,  declares  that  he  has 
labored  over  criminals  in  prisons  for  over  forty  years, 
and  can  count  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand  all  the  edu- 
cated men  he  has  found  among  them. 

Education  is  a  powerful  preventive.  Our  public- 
school  system  should  reach  down  lower,  and  take  the 
very  infant  into  its  care  on  the  plan  of  the  public  nur- 
series, and  thus  the  day  nursery  for  babes  should  be 
the  primary  department.  The  secondary  should  be 
the  kindergarten  for  children,  especially  of  the  poor. 
Education  should  be  compulsory,  and  when  the  little 
one  enters  what  is  now  called  the  primary,  it  should 
be  well  along  in  private  or  public  training.  The  child 
should  graduate  from  the  grammar  school  with  some- 
thing more  than  book  learning,  and  rather  in  every 
wise  prepared  for  useful  grapple  with  the  stern  prob- 
lem of  life.  In  short,  education  should  train  health- 
fully all  the  various  nerve  centers,  not  only  those  of 
the  cerebrum  but  also  of  the  entire  cerebro-spinal 
column. 

(3)  Social  philanthropy,  which  should  be  personal, 
long-suffering    and  discriminating.     Beggary  can  be 


126         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

entirely  repressed  simply  by  an  organized  system  of 
private  relief,  and  at  remarkably  low  cost,  as  is  shown 
in  the  successful  working  of  voluntary  associations, 
called  Union  Relief,  in  New  England. 

Stealing  and  robbery  disappear  in  proportion  as 
"wise  and  just  laws  regulating  property  are  enacted 
and  enforced. 

And  vice  is  very  amenable  to  the  influence  of  pure 
example  and  religious  appeal. 

12.  The  future  of  criminality  can  be  prognosti- 
cated. It  is  not  likely  that  atavism  and  occasional 
crime  and  the  crime  of  passion  will  ever  be  elimi- 
nated. Inheritable  virus,  however,  and  habitual  and 
professional  wrong-doing  ought  to  succumb  to  im- 
proved sanitation,  wiser  methods  of  education,  and 
the  elimination  of  those  hard  social  laws  which  now 
work  to  reduce  many  to  the  level  of  the  brutes. 

13.  One  ought  to  distinguish  between  guilt  and 
criminality.  The  former  is  an  ethical,  the  latter  a 
scientific,  fact.  Guilt  may  or  may  not  be  criminal ; 
crime  may  or  may  not  be  giiilty.  Many  a  man  who 
breaks  no  human  law,  and  is  adored  of  the  community, 
has  on  his  record  "  a  damned  spot "  that  all  the  waters 
of  earth  may  not  wash  out ;  and  many  a  hideous 
malefactor  is  innocent  as  the  babe  unborn. 

Hence  a  just  judgment  of  the  criminal  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult.  Several  principles  may,  however,  be 
applied  safely. 

(1)  Depraved  heredity  is  palliative  and  not  cumu- 
lative of  guilt.  If  the  fathers  ate  sour  grapes  and 
the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge,  so  much  the  worse 
for  the  fathers ;  the  guilt  is  theirs.  The  children  are 
to  be  pitied ;  their  freedom  is  thereby  crippled. 


CRIMINALITY.  127 

(2)  XJnfavonible  environment,  also,  is  palliative  of 
guilt.  One  is  not  worse  because  surroundings  have 
been  bad,  but  relatively  better  in  the  eye  of  justice. 
One's  freedom  has  been  compelled. 

(3)  Guilt  concerns  the  exercise  of  the  will,  within 
its  limitations  and  possibilities.  Doubtless  criminals 
are  generally  and  greatly  to  blame ;  but  we  are  prone 
to  judge  over  harshly.  "  Let  him  that  thinketh  he 
standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall." 


PAET  II. 


MIND  IN  DETAIL. 

SECTION  I. 
THE  SENSORY  AND  MOTOR  END  ORGANS. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE    EVOLUTION    OF   END   ORGANS. 

1.  Irritability  and  contractility  are  primary 
functions  of  protoplasm,  and  hence  in  the  lowest 
forms  we  have  potentialities  of  that  sense  and  motion 
found  in  the  highest ;  for  in  the  progress  of  evolution 
it  is  the  irritability  which  expands  into  the  nervous 
system  and  the  contractility  which  is  built  up  into 
tiie  muscle  machine.  The  two  systems,  the  irritable 
and  the  contractile — that  is,  the  sensory  and  the  motor 
— develop  in  harmony  and  mutual  dependence,  the 
ready  instruments  of  the  ever  -  expanding  psychic 
factor. 

2.  End  organs  are  the  results  of  this  process  of 
specialization,  and  hence  are  either  of  the  irritable  or 
of  the  contractile  order — that  is,  either  nervous  or 
muscular,  sensory  or  motor.     At  the  very  beginning 


THE  EVOLUTION  OP  END  ORGANS.    129 

of  specialization  they  may  be  both,  but  this  only  in 
the  lowest  forms.  They  are  evolved  to  mediate  be- 
tween mind  and  both  the  outer  and  inner  material 
world. 

3.  While  protoplasm  at  its  lowest  does  not  see,  hear, 
smell,  nor  taste,  it  is  probably  gifted  with  feeling, 
which  we  may  conceive  of  as  a  dull,  dim,  perhaps  only 
subconsciousness  of  itself  and  of  the  general  effect 
upon  it  of  environment.  This  primary  feeling  is  the 
foreshadowing  of  sensation,  and  very  liiiely  similar  to 
what  in  ourselves  we  name  general  sense. 

Corresponding  to  this  primary  feeling  is  the  volun- 
tary action  of  rude  forms,  the  mere  self-change  of  po- 
sition within  a  cell  wall  or  in  the  open  by  a  streaming 
of  molecules  or  by  elastic  contraction  and  extension  of 
the  entire  shape.  The  power  of  self- movement  fore- 
shadows all  organs  of  action. 

4.  The  earliest  and  rudest  end  organs  are  the  false 
feet,  lashes,  whips  and  tentacles  of  protophytes  and 
protozoa,  already  sufficiently  described.  These  are  at 
once  irritable  and  contractile,  of  the  nervous  and  of  the 
muscular  orders — that  is,  both  sensory  and  motor — for 
they  not  only  serve  as  limbs,  they  are  also  organs  of 
touch.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  this 
primary  touch  is  quite  different  from  what  we  ex- 
perience as  such  in  ourselves.  It  is  a  crude  forerun- 
ner of  several  senses,  and  as  truly  a  prophecy  of  our 
smell  and  taste  as  of  our  tactile  and  pressure  sensibili- 
ties ;  for  its  lowly  possessors  seek  and  find  appropriate 
food,  seemingly,  by  the  aid  of  these  simple  members. 
Moreover,  even  our  own  smell  and  taste  organs  are  but 
exquisitely  delicate  kinds  of  touch.  The  order  of 
evolution  undoubtedly  was  this  touch  of  a  rude  sort, 


130  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

followed  by  the  same  specialized,  for  heat,  for  smell, 
and  later  for  taste. 

5.  The  appearance  of  controlling  or  nerve  cells 
must  have  given  to  this  movement  a  great  impetus. 
The  sensory  system  separating  from  the  motor  under- 
went subdivision  and  elaboration.  Temperature  end 
organs  must  have  come  early,  and  have  succeeded  the 
general  sense  of  hot  and  cold.  Sight  and  hearing 
were  at  first  less  necessary,  and  received  a  compara- 
tively late  eximnsion.  The  muscular  sense  and  mus- 
cular end  organs  were  of  course  sequent  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  muscle  machine. 

6.  The  design  of  sensory  end  organs  in  high  forms 
and  low  is  to  acquaint  mind  with  its  physical  environ- 
ment without  the  body  and  within.  This  sensory  en- 
vironment is  the  play  of  forces  upon  living  matter — 
of  light,  heat,  electricity,  chemical  affinity,  gravity, 
pressure,  etc.  Sensory  end  organs  are  the  effort  of 
mind  to  interpret,  counteract  and  master  these 
forces. 

7.  This  result  is  accomplished  in  all  the  higher 
forms  by  sj)ecializing  superficial  cells  to  receive  one  or 
another  kind  of  stimulus,  which  cells  in  front  elongate 
into  a  hair  or  thread  and  behind  are  connected  with 
the  sensory  nerve  centers.  The  apparatus  is  merely 
a  hairlike  process  extending  outward  and  connected 
by  a  sensitive  cell  with  a  nervous  filament  extending 
inward.  The  function  of  the  exterior  thread  is  to 
gather  up  the  stimulus  and  convey  it  to  the  sensitive 
cell ;  in  this  the  stimulus  is  converted  into  nerve 
force,  which  speeds  to  the  brain,  Avhere  the  excitation 
becomes  a  sensation.  Even  the  wonderful  senses  of 
man  are  only  an  elaboration  of  this  simple  structure, 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  END  ORGANS,         131 

which  proves  ample  to  meet  all  the  urgent  require- 
ments of  his  complicated  organization ;  and  much 
that  we  associate  with  them  in  thought  is  merely  me- 
chanical, only  designed  to  bring  to  bear  the  stimulus 
in  the  most  etfective  way  upon  the  sensitive  thread. 
Noses,  ears,  eyes  and  tongues  are  mere  mechanical  aids 
to  the  vital  operation  of  the  concealed  end  organs. 

8.  The  sensitive  cells  must  be  conceived  of  as 
loaded  with  explosives,  and  their  stimulation  is  a  kind 
of  discharge,  releasing  energy.  Some  are  fired  by  a 
slight  pressure,  some  by  the  molecular  vibration  of 
odorous  or  sapid  particles,  some  by  undulations  of  air, 
and  others  by  the  waves  of  an  ethereal  surf.  Hence 
we  may  classify  the  end  organs  according  to  the  spe- 
cies of  stimulus : 

Mechanical Touch. 

Chemical Taste  and  smell. 

Physical Sight,  hearing,  temperature. 

Muscular Muscular  sense. 

Vital Vital  sense. 

9.  It  will  be  noticed  that  stimulus  is  in  nearly  all 
cases  vibratory.  This  is  beyond  question  with  sight, 
temperature  and  hearing ;  but  it  is  scarcely  less  cer- 
tain with  smell  and  taste,  with  the  muscular  and  with 
the  vital  senses.  Upon  this  fact  depends  the  quantity 
and  the  quality  of  the  impression.  The  form  of  the 
vibratory  curve  determines  its  quality,  its  amplitude 
the  quantity. 

10.  General  sense  is  described  by  Henle  as  "the 
sum  total  or  the  not  yet  unraveled  chaos  of  sensations 
that  from  every  point  of  the  body  are  being  inces- 
santly transmitted  to  the  sensorium."  Weber  defines 
it  as  "an  internal  sensibility,  an  inward  touch  that 


132  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

imparts  information  to  the  sensorium  concerning  the 
mechanical  and  chemico-organic  state  of  the  skin,  the 
mucous  and  serous  membranes,  the  viscera,  the  mus- 
cles and  the  articulated  parts."  Condillac  called  this 
"  the  basic  feeling  of  existence." 

It  is  by  general  feeling  that  we  know  our  bodies  as 
our  own,  and  its  sensibility  forms  the  physical  basis  of 
personality.  It  gives  us  sense  of  comfort  or  discom- 
fort, of  7nalaise  or  healthful  vigor. 

If  general  sense  have  any  end  organs  of  its  own, 
they  must  be  very  simple,  and  probably  nothing  more 
than  terminating  fibrils  passing  through  minute  sen- 
sitive cells,  and  which,  starting  out  from  the  brain,  end 
everywhere  in  the  human  body. 

11.  When  the  general  sense  is  diseased  or  dis- 
turbed, hallucinations  result,  bearing  chiefly  upon  the 
physical  personality.  A  man  imagines  that  he  is  two 
men,  lying  in  two  beds;  or  that  he  has  long  since 
died,  and  is  but  an  iiiert  thing.  Esquirol  describes 
a  woman  whose  skin  was  completely  insensible,  and 
who  believed  that  the  devil  had  carried  oS  her  body. 
Eibot  tells  of  a  young  man  who,  while  maintaining 
that  he  had  been  dead  for  two  years,  expressed  his 
perplexity  in  the  following  words :  "  I  exist,  but  out- 
side of  real  material  life.  Everything  in  me  is  me- 
chanical, and  takes  place  unconsciously." 


THE  END  ORGANS  OF  TOUCH.      133 

m 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  END   ORGANS   OF  TOUCH. 

1.  These,  as  we  have  seen,  appeared  early  in  the 
evolutionary  movement,  and  are  found  in  very  low 
forms.  AVith  the  latter  they  may  subserve  the  pur- 
poses of  the  temperature  and  the  smell  senses.  The 
hydroid  polyps,  the  MeduscB,  and  the  sea  anemones 
have  touch  tentacles,  usually  arranged  about  the 
mouth.  Sea  urchins  are  equipped  with  touch  rods 
and  suctorial  feet.  Crustaceans  and  insects  have  touch 
hairs,  often  with  a  sensitive  cell  at  the  base.  In  the 
vertebrates  the  nervous  apparatus  is  simply  of  naked 
fibrils  lost  amid  the  cells  of  the  skin  or  of  sensitive 
bulbs  of  connective  tissue  in  which  nerves  terminate. 
In  the  great  majority  of  fishes  feeling  is  limited  to  the 
lips,  to  the  fins  and  to  special  members  called  barbels. 
The  tongue  is  the  chief  organ  of  touch  in  serpents  and 
lizards.  All  reptiles  that  possess  climbing  powers  de^ 
velop  the  sense  in  their  feet.  Birds  have  touch  papillas 
on  the  soles  of  their  feet  to  impart  security  of  grasp. 

2.  In  human  beings  touch  is  specialized  solely  for 
the  appreciation  of  mass  pressure  ;  and  the  organs  are 
numerous  and  in  kind  somewhat  varied.  These  latter 
are  located  in  the  skin  (integumentary  or  mucous), 
and  consist  of  naked  fibrils  which  end  amid  the  cells 
or  of  fibrils  ending  in  corpuscles. 

The  tactile  corpuscles  are  of  three  kinds : 
(1)  Of  Pacini,  which  are  each  a  coating  of  many 
thin  layers  of  connective  tissue  enveloping  the  termi- 
nation of  a  medullated  fiber,  and  are  large  {i^  to  ^ 


134  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

inch   in  diameter).     They  occur  most  frequently  in 
the  palms  of  the  hands  and  the  soles  of  the  feet. 

(2)  Of  Krause,  which  are  small  capsules  of  con- 
nective tissue  in  whose  center  fibrils  terminate  in  a 
coiled  mass  or  a  swollen  extremity  {-^-^  to  yjVo  inch). 
They  are  found  in  the  conjunctiva  in  the  tongue,  the 
lijjs,  etc. 

(3)  Of  Wagner  {-g^  to  -g^  inch),  situate  in  the 
papillas  of  the  skin.  Within  these,  fibrils  form  two  or 
three  coils,  and  finally  join  together  in  loojis ;  they  are 
most  numerous  in  the  papilla  of  the  finger  ends. 
Meisner  counted  four  hundred  papillae  in  one  fiftieth 
of  a  square  inch  on  the  third  phalange  of  the  index 
finger,  and  found  Wagner's  corpuscles  in  one  hundred 
and  eight  of  them. 

3.  The  S]3ecial  function  of  the  corpuscles  has  not 
been  determined  ;  it  is,  however,  highly  probable  that 
the  protecting  connective  tissue  modifies  the  impulse 
of  pressure  received,  so  as  to  convey  it  to  nerve  termi- 
nations in  a  form  better  fitted  for  delicate  and  signifi- 
cant excitation  than  in  case  of  naked  fibrils.  But  they 
are  not  necessary  for  simple  touch,  and  if  no  bulbar 
terminals  occur  in  any  part,  still  even  there  will  be 
found  sensitiveness  to  pressure. 

4.  The  human  body  is  covered  with  what  are  called 
pressure  spots — that  is,  with  areas  marking  the  pres- 
ence of  some  kind  of  touch  organ.  These  are  defined 
experimentally  by  pressing  against  the  skin  at  every 
difi'erent  point  a  sharp  instrument.  Light  pressure 
excites  a  lively  sensation,  often  accompanied  by  a  sense 
of  being  tickled  ;  heavy  pressure  arouses  pain  as  if  of 
a  grain  of  sand  forced  into  the  surface.  Between  the 
spots  the  point  will  cause  feeling  of  contact  but  not  of 


THE  END  ORGANS  OP  TOUCH.  135 

pressure.     Undoubtedly  fibrils  terminate  underneath 
the  pressure  spots. 

5.  The  intensity  and  therefore  the  delicacy  of  the 
sense  of  touch  depends  upon  the  thickness  of  the  cellu- 
lar layer  and  the  form  and  number  of  the  papillae.  The 
two  points  of  a  pair  of  dividers  can  be  distinguished  by 
the  tongue,  if  only  one  twenty-fourth  inch  apart ;  while 
on  the  cheek  they  may  be  one  inch  separate,  and  on 
the  back  three  inches,  and  still  give  rise  to  only  one 
impression.  The  tip  of  the  tongue  and  ends  of  the 
fingers  offer  surfaces  crowded  with  touch  organs  and 
highly  sensitive  to  pressure.  There  are  men  in  whom 
this  gift  is  so  exquisitely  discriminating  that  they  can 
tell  simply  by  feeling  the  make  and  grade  of  Hour. 
Sleight-of-hand  experts  possess  this  tactile  dexterity  to 
a  very  remarkable  degree. 

6.  Touch  is  one  of  the  spatial  senses.  There  is  a 
field  of  touch  as  there  is  a  field  of  vision.  Those  who 
are  born  blind,  through  touch  have  definite  space  con- 
ceptions ;  the  three  dimensions  are  correctly  appre- 
hended. Indeed,  in  case  of  congenital  blindness,  touch, 
aided  by  the  muscular  sense,  receives  emphasis  and 
plays  a  much  more  important  part  in  life  than  when 
sight  can  be  relied  upon,  and  to  some  extent  replaces 
the  latter. 

Still,  even  as  a  spatial  sense,  touch  is  far  more  re- 
liable in  its  resulting  sensations,  perceptions  and  judg- 
ments, for  having  the  assistance  of  vision. 

7.  In  the  blind,  in  the  hypnotized  and  sometimes 
in  the  normal,  touch  attains  exquisite  sensitiveness.  A 
Swiss  blind  man,  among  a  group  of  wood-carving 
peasants,  learned  to  carve  in  wood  faces  of  men  and 
women  with  a  marvelous  accuracy. 


136  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

MUSCULAR   SENSE. 

1.  This  phrase  describes  a  certain  sensibility  con- 
nected with  the  muscles,  the  stimulus  being  of  two 
kinds — either  an  innervation  of  some  muscle  or  a  re- 
sistance by  environment  to  such  innervation. 

Hence  muscular  sense  is  either  of  movements  or  of 
resistance.  It  keeps  mind  en  rapport  with  its  motory 
apparatus  and  cognizant  of  the  obstacles  encountered 
by  its  own  attempted  effort. 

It  must  be  carefully  distiuguished  from  the  senses 
of  mere  contact  and  of  mere  pressure.  Bring  your 
hand  alongside  a  book  and  you  are  in  contact  with  it. 
Lay  your  hand  flat  upon  a  table  and  place  the  book 
upon  your  palm,  and  you  feel  pressure.  Now,  if  you 
will  lift  the  hand  and  so  raise  the  book,  you  shall  have 
muscular  sense  of  resistance,  as  well  as  muscular  sense 
of  the  innervation  necessary  to  accomplish  the  work. 

Landry  tells  of  a  workman  "  whose  fingers  and 
hands  were  insensible  to  all  contact,  pain  and  tem- 
perature, but  whose  sense  of  muscular  activity  was 
everywhere  alert.  If  I  made  him  shut  his  eyes  and 
placed  a  large  object  in  his  hand,  he  was  astonished 
that  he  could  not  shut  it ;  but  his  only  idea  was  that 
there  was  some  obstacle  to  the  movement  of  his  fingers. 
I  secretly  tied  to  his  wrists  a  kilogramme  weight ;  he 
thought  "some  one  was  pulling  him  by  the  arm." 

2.  In  sense  of  muscular  movement,  the  stimulation 
is  probably  central  and  occasioned  by  acts  of  innerva- 
tion in  central  nerve  cells.     Sense  of  resistance,  how- 


MUSCULAR  SENSE.  137 

ever,  receives  its  impressions  through  fibrils  directed 
everywhere  upon  the  muscles,  and  these  are  the  true 
muscular  end  organs. 

3.  The  muscular  is  one  of  the  three  spatial  senses, 
by  which  we  come  to  know  the  material  universe ;  its 
impressions  acquaint  us  with  the  density,  hardness 
and  elasticity  of  matter.  Indeed,  sight  and  touch 
would  fail  in  much  of  their  usefulness  were  they  not 
supplemented  by  the  motility  of  the  hand  and  eye 
muscles  and  the  nice  discrimination  by  successive 
movements  of  position,  amount  of  innervation  and 
force  of  resistances. 

These  spatial  properties  of  muscular  sensibility  are 
greatly  enhanced  in  value  by  that  keen  Judgment  of 
durations  which  accompanies  it.  Thus  we  can  esti- 
mate distances  by  the  time  it  takes  us  to  traverse  them 
under  allowance  for  the  force  of  resistance. 

4.  The  diseases  of  this  kind  of  sensibility  lead  to 
curious  results.  Demeaux  tells  of  a  woman  who,  los- 
ing all  sense  of  resistance,  though  retaining  sense  of 
innervation,  could  will  muscular  action,  but  neither 
could  she  know  the  nature  of  the  actual  movement 
nor  could  she  even  judge  as  to  the  position  of  her 
limbs.  Persons  whose  muscles  have  been  anaesthetized 
can  not  tell  in  what  position  their  members  are  or  have 
been  placed.  Carpenter  describes  the  case  of  a  woman 
whose  sense  of  resistance  in  one  arm  was  lost,  while 
the  power  of  innervation  was  retained  ;  she  could  hold 
her  baby  only  so  long  as  she  gazed  steadily  upon  her 
arm,  vision  taking  the  place  of  the  lost  sense  in  giving 
the  requisite  guidance  to  the  sense  of  effort. 

5.  Muscular  sense  can  be  educated  and  attain  won- 
derful keenness  and  precision ;  hence  the  sleight-of- 

10 


138         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

hand  conjurer,  the  acrobat,  the  equilibrist  and  the 
tumbler.  In  hypnosis  it  may  become  extremely  alert 
and  discriminating,  as  in  the  case  of  the  lady  who 
could  select  any  one  of  twenty  silver  coins  by  poising 
them  on  a  finger  and  so  weighing  them. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

THE    END   ORGANS   OF   SMELL. 

1.  Odors  are  of  value  to  the  psychic  factor  thereby 
to  gain  acquaintance  with  environment,  because  ma- 
terial substances  all  readily  give  off  superficial  mole- 
cules and  vary  greatly  in  chemical  quality.  Odor  end 
organs  need  to  be  specialized  for  reception  of  impres- 
sions conveyed  by  the  chemical  or  physical  energies  of 
such  molecules.  How  these  energies  are  delivered  so 
as  to  discharge  the  loaded  sensitive  cell,  science  has 
not  yet  explained ;  there  is,  however,  little  doubt  thatt 
the  impact  is  vibratory,  and  either  of  ethereal  waves  of 
low  rapidity  or  rhythmic  movement  peculiar  to  the 
molecule  in  question. 

2.  While  something  answering  to  the  sense  of  smell 
must  be  possessed  by  even  the  lowest  animals,  the  most 
simple  apparatus  for  this  purpose  is  found  in  the  Me- 
duscBy  in  which  wc  discover  pitlike  depressions  lined 
with  ciliated  epithelium  and  supposed  to  be  olfactory 
organs.  Insects  are  abundantly  provided  with  sensory 
hairs,  knobs  and  cones  on  their  antenna?,  often  num- 
bering many  thousands,  which  evidently  are  olfactory ; 
for  if  you  amputate  these  structures  or  coat  them  with 
paraffin,  the  result  is  complete  obtuseness  to  smell.    A 


THE  END  ORGANS  OF  SMELL.      139 

similar  equipment  of  olfactory  hairs  aud  tufts  of  hairs 
is  found  witii  the  mollusks ;  though  snails,  forming 
an  exception,  seem  to  smell — in  part  at  least — with 
their  horns.  In  fishes  we  have  a  highly  vascular  folded 
membrane,  covered  by  cilia,  lining  one  or  two  pits ; 
and  most  fishes  are  attracted  to  bait  not  by  sight  but 
by  smell.  Amphibians  have  paired  internal  cavities. 
In  birds  the  external  nostrils  are  simple  perforations, 
but  in  the  cavities  the  sensitive  surface  is  increased  by 
projections  and  folds.  In  the  mammals  the  olfactory 
surface  is  enormously  increased  by  a  bony  labyrinth, 
carved  into  projections  and  depressions  and  covered 
with  sensitive  membrane. 

The  simple  idea  which  is  gradually  elaborated  in 
this  series — the  "  motive,"  as  a  musician  might  say — is 
that  of  a  single  fibril  exposed  cautiously  to  contact 
with  infinitesimal  particles  of  substances  floating  on 
the  air  or  dissolved  in  water.  In  each  of  the  thou- 
sands of  olfactory  hairs  on  the  antennae  of  a  bee  there 
ends  a  fibril ;  while  in  olfactory  cavities  of  more  elab- 
orate forms  few  or  many  such  fibrils  end  in  exposure. 
With  the  highest  animals  the  structure,  though  still 
simple  in  its  details,  is  extremely  elaborate  in  multi- 
plication of  fibrils  and  provision  for  air  passages. 

3.  In  man  the  olfactory  organs  do  not  materially 
depart  from  those  of  his  class,  and  are  situated  in  the 
upper  region  of  the  nasal  cavity,  where  there  is  an 
expansion.  In  this  expansion  there  is  a  bony  laby- 
rinth lined  with  a  mucous  membrane  that  is  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  sensitive  fibrils.  Two  cables 
from  the  brain — the  first  pair  of  cranial — divide  into 
fibers,  the  fibrils  of  which  end  in  sensitive  cells ;  these 
latter — spindle-shaped  or  columnar,  with  large  nucleus 


140  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

— penetrate  the  epithelial  layer,  and  on  the  outer  sur- 
face terminate  in  threadlike  processes. 

Smelling  is  excited  chiefly  on  inspiration,  and  to 
be  keen  the  air  must  be  breathed  in  deep  draughts ; 
and  snuffing,  by  creating  a  partial  vacuum  in  the  nasal 
cavity  and  so  increasing  the  amount  of  air  drawn  into 
the  olfactory  region,  intensifies  the  sensation.  The 
atmosphere  had  best  be  damp,  and  the  mucous  mem- 
brane concerned  should  be  moist.  When  the  threads 
are  well  covered  with  odorous  matter  or  coated  with 
mucus,  as  during  an  attack  of  catarrh,  or  when  the 
nose  is  filled  even  with  an  odorous  liquid,  the  sensa- 
tion ceases. 

4.  Smell  is  excited  by  exceedingly  minute  particles 
of  matter  in  the  gaseous  or  vaporous  condition  floating 
in  the  air  or  the  same  dissolved  in  water.  A  grain  of 
musk  will  scent  an  apartment  for  years,  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  no  appreciable  loss  of  weight  can  be  de- 
tected. This  accounts  for  the  extraordinary  acute- 
ness  of  smelling  in  certain  animals,  as  the  dog  or  the 
deer. 

Occasional  instances  of  acuteness  in  men  hint  of 
the  inexhaustible  possibilities  of  the  human  nose,  and 
lead  us  to  infer  that  the  only  reason  we  do  not  enjoy  a 
sense  of  smell  as  keen  and  varied  as  our  sight  is  the 
fact  that  human  exigencies  of  life  and  growth  have 
not  required  it.  James  Mitchell,  born  blind,  deaf  and 
dumb,  chiefly  depended  on  smell  for  keeping  up  con- 
nection with  the  outer  world ;  he  readily  observed  the 
presence  of  a  stranger  in  the  room,  and  formed  his 
opinions  of  persons  apparently  from  their  character- 
istic smells.  Eelatively  imperfect  as  our  organs  are,  it 
is  said  that  ^^nruoir^  of  a  milligramme  of  alcoholic  ex- 


THE  END  ORGANS  OF  SMELL.      141 

tract  of  musk  and  ^booooooo  of  a  milligramme  of  mcr- 
captan  can  be  perceived,  while  a  current  of  air  con- 
taining u-Q-gVfTff  of  vapor  of  bromine  excites  a  strong, 
unpleasant  sensation.  Humboldt  declared  of  the 
Peruvian  Americans  that  on  the  darkest  night  they 
could  not  merely  perceive  through  smell  the  approach 
of  a  distant  stranger,  but  could  say  whether  he  were 
Indian,  negro  or  European. 

5.  In  animals,  and  to  some  extent  in  man,  smell 
conveys  knowledge  as  to  direction  of  the  exciting 
cause.  Put  your  finger  in  water  occupied  by  leeches 
and  they  seek  it.  Fishes  will  thus  find  bait  they  can 
not  see.  In  man  this  peculiar  gift  usually  lies  dor- 
mant; but  that  it  exists  appears  in  Braid's  account  of 
a  lady  who  when  hypnotized  was  so  acute  in  smelling 
that  she  could,  though  blindfolded  and  at  a  distance 
of  forty-six  feet,  follow  a  rose  just  as  surely  as  a  hound 
does  a  hare. 

6.  The  olfactory  sense  may  prove  a  source  of  decep- 
tion. When  covered  with  mucus  in  catarrh  the  nerve 
endings  fail  to  respond  to  the  strongest  stimulus,  and 
in  certain  diseased  conditions  they  send  false  impres- 
sions to  the  brain — as  when  during  a  cold  the  author 
for  several  days  smelt  smoke  and  went  about  the  house 
seeking  fire. 

7.  Science  has  not  reduced  to  definite  mathemat- 
ical, physical  or  even  chemical  relations  the  infinite 
possible  varieties  of  olfactory  impressions.     As  Wundt 

.  declares,   these    possess    a    "  discrete    manifoldness " 
which  has  an  unknown  arrangement. 


142  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE    END    ORGANS   OF   TASTE. 

1.  Taste  and  smell  are  allied,  and  were  originally 
indistinguishable ;  and  now  in  all  low  aquatic  forms 
the  difference  is  hardly,  if  at  all,  discernible.  Still, 
some  think  they  discover  taste  organs  in  fishes,  and 
Morgan  is  confident  that  they  can  be  found  in  the 
maxillae  and  probosces  of  insects,  in  minute  pits  sup- 
plied each  with  a  taste  hair.  It  is,  however,  more 
probable  that  taste  organs  have  been  recent  in  evolu- 
tionary history.  First  in  the  mammals  do  we  discover 
clear  evidence  of  a  special  apparatus,  and  even  with 
these  the  sense  of  taste  is  introductory.  Man  himself 
in  this  regard  is  but  where  insects  are  in  the  matter  of 
eyes,  or  where  fishes  seem  to  be  in  the  matter  of  ears. 

2.  The  taste  organs  in  man  are  situated  princi- 
pally in  the  tongue.  On  the  upper  surface  of  the  root 
of  the  tongue  are  found  large  papilla?,  called  circura- 
vallate ;  while  on  the  tip  and  lateral  margins  may  be 
seen  other  papillae  named  fungiform.  In  the  epithe- 
lial lining  of  these  bodies,  at  the  sides  of  the  circum- 
vallate,  and  at  the  sides  and  on  the  upper  surfaces 
of  the  fungiform,  are  found  gustatory  buds.  These 
open  outward,  and  are  ^  to  -g^  inch  in  diameter. 
Shaped  like  a  Florence  flask,  they  are  composed  of 
two  sets  of  cells — an  outer,  which  lines  the  organ,  and 
is  made  up  of  nucleated  fusiform  elements  bent  in- 
ward like  the  staves  of  a  barrel,  and  an  inner  group, 
five  to  ten,  also  of  nuclea'ted  cells,  each  pointed  at  the 
opening  and  branched  below.     The  branched  lower 


THE  END  ORGANS  OP  TASTE.  143 

ends  of   the  latter  arc  continuous  with  nerve  fibrils 
from  the  gustatory  cable. 

3.  Taste  is  excited  by  soluble  substances  only,  as 
the  matter  perceived  must  be  minute  enough  to  work 
its  way  into  the  terminal  pores  of  the  buds.  Insolu- 
ble substances  excite  on  the  tongue  only  feelings  of 
touch  and  temperature.  Ileuce  dryness  of  the  mouth 
will  lessen  the  sensation  by  preventing  solution,  and 
the  neighboring  secreting  glands  form  an  important 
part  of  the  entire  apparatus. 

4.  We  may  therefore  surmise  that  the  stimulus  is 
molecular  in  action,  the  motion  of  impact  being  either 
an  ethereal  vibration  or  some  rhythmic  physical  move- 
ment. 

5.  Taste  seems  a  much  more  important  function 
than  it  is,  because  constantly  confused  with  touch  and 
smell.  A  large  part  of  what  we  call  the  taste  of  any- 
thing is  its  "  feel "  and  its  odor.  A  Shah  of  Persia 
once  rebuked  some  Europeans  for  eating  with  knives 
and  forks ;  he  declared  that  the  sense  of  taste  began 
in  the  finger-tips  (Hoifding).  Blindfold  the  eyes 
and  close  the  nose,  and  a  slice  of  onion  on  the  tongue 
will  not  be  distinguished  from  a  slice  of  apple.  We 
all  enjoy  vanilla  flavoring,  but  only  the  odor  is  per- 
ceived. When  smell  and  touch  are  rigidly  excluded, 
there  remain  as  kinds  of  taste  impressions  only  sweet, 
bitter,  acid  and  saline.  In  short,  the  sense  is  incipient : 
it  is  clear  that  the  exigencies  of  animal  existence  have 
not  been  such  as  to  evolve  its  possibilities.  There  is 
nothing  absolutely  to  forbid  the  gradual  future  multi- 
plication of  kinds  of  taste  impression. 

G.  The  intensity  of  gustatory  impression  depends 
upon  the  number  of  buds  excited  and  the  concentra- 


344         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

tion  of  the  solution,  not  to  speak  of  attention.  But 
with  all  conditions  favorable,  the  sense  seldom  is  keen. 
It  is,  however,  occasionally  so,  as  in  the  case  of  Valen- 
tin, who  detected  bitter  in  xroorrtr  o^  ^  solution  of 
quinine.  Moreover,  it  can  be  educated,  as  the  nice 
discriminations  of  the  professional  tea-tasters  show  ; 
though  in  this  case  the  dexterity,  after  all,  is  largely 
of  the  olfactory  sense.  In  subconscious  conditions  it 
is  also  often  abnormally  acute. 

7.  Like  all  the  other  senses,  it  may  delude.  Gal- 
vanic stimulation  of  the  tongue  simulates  food  im- 
pressions. A  draft  of  cool  air  excites  on  the  tongue 
the  taste  of  saltpeter.  Acetate  of  lead  may  be  mis- 
taken for  sugar. 

CHAPTER  XXVIL 

THE   TEMPERATURE    END    ORGAKS. 

1.  Mind  perceives  heat  impressions  through  nerve 
fibrils  terminating  in  the  skin  and  mucous  surfaces. 
The  stimulus  is  to  be  sought  in  the  invisible  ethereal 
vibrations  or  heat  rays  which  occur  at  the  ultra-red 
end  of  the  solar  spectrum.  The  impact  of  this  ethe- 
real surf  upon  the  fibril  cells  occasions  that  discharge 
of  loaded  energies  which  constitutes  temperature  im- 
pression. 

2.  These  fibrils  occasion  corresponding  cold  and  hot 
spots,  which  are  minute  and  very  numerous.  The  cold 
spots  are  sensitive  to  low,  the  hot  to  high  temperature. 
Some  parts  of  the  human  body  are  more  plentifully 
supplied  with  the  one  than  with  the  other.  Thus  the 
forehead  and  the  back  between  the  shoulders  are  ex- 


THE  TEMPERATURE  END  ORGANS.    145 

tremely  sensitive  to  cold,  but  only  moderately  so  to 
heat,  while  the  hands  are  equally  excited  by  both  con- 
ditions. 

3.  The  fibrils  are  tel^sthetic,  and  may  be  influ- 
enced by  a  body  radiating  heat  from  afar,  even  though 
as  distant  as  the  sun.  You  may  prove  this  by  holding 
your  hand  near  a  hot  stove,  but  the  while  protecting 
it  by  a  dense  screen.  Remove  the  screen,  and  in  the 
fraction  of  a  second,  and  ere  the  heat  of  the  hand  is 
appreciably  raised,  there  will  be  a  strong  stimulation 
of  temperature  end  organs. 

4.  There  is  a  zero  point  at  which  fibrils  produce  no 
sensations.  When  they  receive  heat  waves  of  any  de- 
gree above  this,  the  hot  s^Dots  transmit  inward  the 
excitation  of  warmth  ;  when  the  heat  waves  fall  below, 
the  cold  spots  transmit  the  excitation  of  coldness. 

5.  This  zero  point  is  variable  ;  it  changes  for  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  body,  according  as  they  are  or  are 
not  exposed,  according  as  they  are  or  are  not  well  sup- 
plied with  arterial  blood,  pursuant  also  to  variations 
in  the  temperature  of  the  air  or  of  other  bodies  in  con- 
tact. Thus  it  is  higher  in  summer  than  in  winter,  in 
a  hot  room  than  in  a  cold  one,  etc. 

The  adjustment  of  the  zero  point  to  surroundings 
depends,  of  course,  upon  the  evaporation  of  perspira- 
tion and  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  but  also  upon  a 
certain  power  of  accommodation.  Plunge  the  hand 
into  warm  water,  and  having  kept  it  there  a  moment 
put  it  into  still  warmer  ;  this  latter  will  seem  warm 
only  until  the  zero  point  is  adjusted  to  the  new  con- 
ditions. Then,  if  the  hand  be  returned  to  the  first  basin, 
the  water  in  this  will  seem  cold,  though  but  a  few  mo- 
ments before  it  gave  quite  the  contrary  impression. 


146  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

G.  The  fibril  cells  are  most  sensitive  to  changes 
lying  near  their  own  zero  point.  Intense  cold  and 
heat  do  not  occasion  impressions  strong  in  proportion 
to  the  intensity  ;  indeed,  overvigorous  excitation,  if 
prolonged,  even  reduces  sensitiveness  to  slighter  va- 
riations. 

7.  Delicacy  of  discrimination  depends  upon  the 
locality  and  extent  of  surfaces  involved.  Thus  water, 
in  which  the  whole  hand  is  immersed,  seems  warmer 
than  some  of  a  higher  temperature  into  which  only 
one  finger  has  been  plunged. 

There  is  a  limit,  however,  to  this  nicety  of  judg- 
ment ;  as  the  heat  rays  of  the  solar  spectrum  give  us 
no  such  discernment  of  qualities  as  that  afforded  by 
the  light  rays,  we  simply  feel  gradations  of  quantity. 
The  heat  sense  lacks  what  in  other  senses  we  mean  by 
color,  pitch,  savor,  etc. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

SIGHT. 

1.  The  light  organs  receive  impressions  from  the 
luminous  portion  of  the  spectrum,  and  are  adapted  to 
convert  the  ethereal  surf  that  beats  against  the  human 
body — hundreds  of  billions  of  waves  a  second — into 
nerve  force,  to  travel  to  the  nerve  center  for  final  ap- 
preciation by  the  psychic  factor. 

Nature's  method  of  accomplishing  this  great  feat 
has  been  progressive  ;  hence — 

2.  An  evolutionary  history.  First  came  a  general 
sensitiveness  to  light  not  localized.    Among  plants  the 


SIGHT.  147 

desmids  have  a  light  sense,  and  are  able  thereby  to 
find  the  sunshine,  whether  by  some  special  organ  or 
by  general  sensibility  we  can  not  yet  say.  The  earth- 
worm is  distinctly  sensitive  to  light,  and  can  even  dis- 
tinguish between  colors,  though  quite  eyeless,  prefer- 
ring red  to  green,  and  green  to  blue.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  blind  proteus  of  the  grottoes  of  Carniola. 
Some  animals  provided  with  eyes — the  newt,  for  exam- 
ple— can  distinguish  between  light  and  darkness  by 
the  general  surface  of  the  skin. 

The  next  stage  is  of  pigment  spots.  Certain  plants 
in  the  motile  form  possess  pigment  spots  as  the  organs 
of  a  light  sense  (as  Pandorina).  These  spots  are  the 
rude  beginnings  of  eyes.  Low  animal  forms  also  have 
such  pigment  spots  to  serve  the  same  end  of  light-seek- 
ing.    Euglena  viridis  is  a  case  in  point. 

Eyes  proper  began  in  eye-specks — in  the  worms, 
Med  usee,  etc.  These  are  simply  expansions  of  an  optic 
nerve  into  a  brush  of  fibrils,  which  are  fronted  by  a 
transparent  medium,  the  whole  shut  in  by  a  rudi- 
mentary lens.  Eye-specks  afford  only  a  luminous  im- 
pression, without  distinct  vision. 

More  fully  developed  are  the  ocelli  or  single  eyes 
of  spiders  and  kindred  insects ;  these  are  endowed 
with  a  lens,  a  transparent  medium  back  of  it,  optic 
fibrils,  a  layer  of  pigment  and  optic  ganglia ;  and  they 
no  doubt  alford  something  like  true  vision. 

In  the  insects,  and  also  in  the  crustaceans,  sin- 
gle eyes — a  great  many  of  them,  often  thousands — are 
compressed  and  combined  into  compound  eyes,  which 
consist  of  transparent  conelike  bodies,  arranged  in  a 
radiate  manner  against  the  inner  surface  of  the  cornea, 
with  which  their  bases  are  united,  while  their  apices 


148  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

are  connected  with  the  ends  of  the  opposite  fibrils. 
Vision  in  this  case  gives  a  distinct  image  of  the  field 
in  mosaic. 

In  the  vertebrates  we  find  large,  single  eyes,  in 
which  the  optical  rivals  the  nerve  complexity  to  pro- 
vide perfect  organs  of  sight.  An  eye,  so  perfected,  is 
a  dark  chamber  with  a  self-adjusting  lens  and  a  sen- 
sitive nervous  screen.  There  is  time  here  to  dwell 
only  upon  the  retina  or  screen,  where  the  real  end  or- 
gans of  vision  are  located,  though  the  entire  apparatus 
of  diaphragm,  ciliary  muscles,  muscles  of  accommoda- 
tion, eyebrows,  eyelids,  lachrymal  glands,  muscles  of 
the  eyeball,  etc.,  might  well  occupy  many  hours  of  pa- 
tient consideration. 

3.  The  retina  or  sensitive  screen  is  the  terminal 
membranous  expansion  of  the  optic  nerve  within  the 
globe  of  the  eye ;  it  consists  of  nerve  cells  and  fibers 
imbedded  in  a  spongy,  supporting  connective  tissue. 
It  is  the  inner  tunic  of  the  orb,  and  is  composed  of  no 
less  than  ten  different  layers.  It  begins  on  the  inner 
surface  of  the  choroid,  with  a  mosaic  pavement  of  pig- 
ment cells  ;  resting  on  these  is  a  layer  of  rods  and 
cones,  more  than  one  hundred  m-illions  to  the  square 
inch.  In  front  of  the  rods  and  cones  are  successive 
strata  of  nerve  elements — fibers,  nuclei  and  cells — 
connected  with  them.  Foremost  of  all  are  multipolar 
nucleated  nerve  cells,  joined  by  a  network  of  fibrils  to 
the  optic  cable,  which  enters  the  retina  at  a  point  of 
slight  projection,  near  the  center  of  the  posterior  hemi- 
spherical surface  on  the  nasal  side.  The  entire  thick- 
ness of  the  retina  is  one  thirtieth  of  an  inch.  At  the 
center  of  the  posterior  hemispherical  surface  is  a  de- 
pressed yellow  spot  of  superior  sensitiveness,  which  is 


SIGHT.  149 

the  place  of  clearest  vision,  the  organ  of  visual  atten- 
tion. The  neighboring  elevation,  where  the  optic  nerve 
penetrates  the  retina  to  distribute  itself  over  the  inner 
surface,  is,  on  the  contrary,  devoid  of  visual  elements 
and  totally  blind.  It  is  believed  that  the  eye  distin- 
guishes all  the  colors  of  the  spectrum  only  at  the  yel- 
low spot,  which,  in  consequence,  is  termed  trichro- 
matic— that  is,  sensitive  to  the  three  primary  colors 
and  all  their  combinations.  Not  far  from  the  yellow 
spot  the  retina  becomes  only  bichromatic,  and  is 
green  blind ;  while  on  the  periphery  color  is  entirely 
indistinguishable,  and  only  light  and  shade  are  ob- 
served. 

The  yellow  spot  has  within  itself  an  area  yet  more 
restricted  of  most  acute  sensibility,  only  y^  of  an 
inch  in  diameter,  containing  no  less  than  two  thou- 
sand cones. 

4.  Though  the  mechanics  of  vision  is  perfectly 
clear,  its  physiology  is  not  well  understood.  The  for- 
mation of  the  image  on  the  retina  is  in  accordance 
with  well-demonstrated  properties  of  light ;  but  how 
the  retina  converts  each  point  of  light  into  a  nerve 
impression,  to  speed  its  way  to  the  brain,  we  do  not 
know.  The  fibers  and  cells  of  the  retina  are  them- 
selves indifferent  to  light  stimulation,  unless  of  dan- 
gerous intensity.  The  rods  and  cones,  in  connection 
with  the  pigment  cells,  receive  and  register  the  ether 
waves,  but  just  how  has  not  yet  been  discovered.  The 
process  seems  to  be  photo-chemical.  The  fibrils  re- 
ceive their  stimulus  surely  not  from  the  light  directly, 
but  from  the  layer  of  rods  and  cones.  The  yellow 
spot  is  most  sensitive,  because  here  the  cones  are  most 
numerous  and  delicate,  while  the  blind  spot  is  entirely 


150  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

insensitive,  because  it  fails  utterly  in  rods  and  cones. 
An  image  large  enough  to  cover  one  cone  only  is  visi- 
ble, and  Lockyer  claims  that  the  color  of  a  star  throw- 
ing such  an  image  is  discernible. 

5.  A  line  drawn  from  the  yellow  spot  to  the  center 
of  the  pupil  forms  the  axis  of  the  eye,  and  gives  the 
direction  of  perfect  vision.  As  the  yellow  spot  is  the 
organ  of  attention,  and  therefore  of  research  and  dis- 
covery, it  is  the  only  part  of  the  retina  that  can  be  said 
to  examine  anything.  The  mechanical  contrivances 
of  the  eyes  are  largely  designed  to  bring  the  object  of 
visual  attention  upon  this  most  sensitive  portion  of 
the  screen. 

6.  The  retinal  images  are  small — only  about  ^^^ 
of  the  surface  area  of  the  object,  at  nine  inches 
from  the  eye.  The  arc  they  subtend,  the  center  of 
the  lens  being  the  center  of  the  circle,  is  called  the 
angle  of  vision. 

7.  The  minimum  limit  of  vision  is  conditioned 
by  the  distance  of  the  retinal  elements  one  from  the 
other.  Two  stars  can  not  be  distinguished  by  the 
naked  eye  if  nearer  together  than  sixty  seconds  ;  this 
corresponds  to  a  visual  angle  whose  arc  subtends  the 
least  distance  between  the  cones  in  the  yellow  spot.  A 
line  not  much  more  than  subtending  this  angle  ap- 
pears uneven  and  knotted,  because  it  falls  at  points  on 
only  parts  of  retinal  elements,  and  lines  of  less  diam- 
eter are  not  seen  at  all.  Glass  can  be  spun  so  fine  as 
not  to  be  seen  even  when  magnified  by  the  utmost 
powers  of  the  microscope,  and  parallel  lines  can  be 
drawn  on  glass  that  before  all  our  efforts  remain  quite 
indistinguishable. 

8.  The  impression  made  by  light  upon  the  retina 


SIGHT.  151 

not  only  remains  during  the  time  of  stimulation,  but 
afterward  for  about  one  eighth  of  a  second  ;  so  that 
two  luminous  impressions  no  farther  apart  than  this 
interval  appear  continuous  as  one.  A  pin- wheel  light- 
ed and  rapidly  revolving  appears  as  an  unbroken  circle 
of  fire. 

9.  The  excitability  of  the  retina  is  soon  exhausted  : 
a  bright  light  presently  renders  the  part  aroused  tem- 
porarily insensitive.  If  the  bright  light  be  of  one 
color,  the  part  excited  becomes  insensitive  to  that 
color,  but  not  to  other  rays  of  the  spectrum.  Look 
at  a  bright  red  cloth  intently,  and  if  the  eyes  be  sud- 
denly averted  to  a  white  surface  a  greenish  spot  will 
appear ;  in  this  case  the  capacity  to  see  red  is  weak- 
ened, and  only  its  complementary  color  in  the  white  is 
perceived. 

10.  In  some  persons  the  necessary  apparatus  for 
discriminating  colors  accurately  is  lacking :  they  see 
no  red  or  no  green  or  no  yellow. 

11.  Illusory  impressions  may  be  made  on  the  ret- 
ina. Press  the  closed  eyeball  on  one  side,  and  a  light 
image  appears  on  a  dark  ground.  A  blow  will  cause 
one  to  "  see  stars."  Electrical  stimulation  induces 
light  impressions  of  various  sorts  and  degrees.  The 
eyes  are  therefore  the  seats  of  possible  illusions,  and 
may  become  to  the  mind  the  sources  of  serious  de- 
lusion. 

13.  Vision,  through  individual  or  ancestral  educa- 
tion, can  be  brought  up  to  a  high  degree  of  acuteness, 
and  the  same  result  may  temporarily  be  secured  by 
hypnosis.  Jackdaws  Avill  perceive  a  hawk  and  show 
alarm  when  the  sky  is  perfectly  clear  to  human  eyes. 
The  author  knew  a  young  girl  who  possessed  talent 


152  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

for  the  painting  of  minute  subjects  so  elaborate  in 
detail  that  the  result  could  be  magnified  four  diam- 
eters without  suffering  in  proportion  or  color. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

HEAKING. 

1.  The  end  organs  of  hearing  are  constructed  to  ac- 
quaint mind  with  its  environment  by  means  of  sounds, 
and  the  sensitive  cells  are  discharged  by  undulations 
proceeding  from  sonorous  bodies  through  elastic  me- 
dia. As  sound  is  occasioned  by  the  vibrations  of 
bodies  which,  because  they  can  vibrate,  are  called 
sonorous,  and  is  transmitted  in  undulations  through 
suitable  media — air,  wood,  water,  or  any  elastic  sub- 
stance— we  may  expect  to  find  the  terminal  filament, 
in  this  case,  an  elastic  hair. 

3.  The  evolutionary  history  has  been  very  striking. 

Loxodes  rostruyn,  a  beautiful  ciliated  infusory,  ex- 
hibits along  the  back  a  row  of  small  auditory  vesicles, 
which  probably  afford  a  general  sense  of  undulation, 
without  discernment  of  jjitcli  and  timbre. 

The  IfediisoB,  in  connection  with  their  double  ring 
of  nerve  matter,  possess  sense  organs,  which  function, 
in  some  species,  as  eyes  and  in  others  as  ears ;  in  the 
latter  case,  projecting  tentacles  are  furnished  with 
otoliths  and  vibratory  hairs.  In  some  species  the 
tentacle  lies  in  a  vesicle  imbedded  in  the  gelatinous 
substance  of  the  disk  and  close  to  its  edge. 

Among  invertebrates,  auditory  organs  are  very  pro- 
miscuously located :  in  the  foot  of  bivalves,  in  the  an- 


HEARING.  153 

tennnles  of  lobsters,  the  forelegs  of  crickets  and  ants, 
the  abdomen  of  locusts,  the  balancers  of  flies,  the  tail 
of  Mysis.  These  generally  involve  one  or  more  sacs, 
with  otoliths  and  vibratory  hairs.  Sonorous  vibrations 
are  communicated  to  the  sac  either  directly  through 
hard  parts  or  by  a  membrane  exposed  to  the  surround- 
ing medium.  If  vibratory  hairs  be  present,  pitch  is 
perceived,  otherwise  only  intensity.  Hensen,  through 
a  microscope,  watched  the  two  auditory  sacs  in  the 
tail  of  a  mysis,  while  a  musical  scale  near  at  hand  was 
sounded,  and  he  found  that  special  hairs  responded  to 
particular  notes.  When  a  note  was  sounded,  the  cor- 
responding hair  was  thrown  into  such  violent  vibration 
as  to  disappear. 

Among  the  vertebrates,  the  organ  becomes  increas- 
ingly complicated  with  evolution  into  higher  forms. 

In  the  lower  fishes  there  is  a  simple  sac ;  then,  there 
is  a  sac — now  called  a  vestibule — and  a  semicircular 
canal,  each  of  which,  filled  with  lymph  and  otoliths, 
receives  filaments  of  the  auditory  nerve.  In  the  lam- 
prey there  are  two  semicircular  canals.  In  the  higher 
fishes  there  are  three  semicircular  canals,  and  the  ves- 
tibule enlarges  into  a  double  sac.  In  amphibians,  rep- 
tiles and  birds  there  are  always  three  canals,  and  con- 
joined to  these  appears  a  new  sac  called  the  cochlea ; 
there  is  also  increasing  perfection  of  apparatus,  in 
middle  and  external  ears,  for  bringing  to  bear  effect- 
ively the  atmospheric  undulations. 

3  Omitting  all  minute  description  of  mechanical 
contrivance,  the  internal  ear  of  man  is  composed  of 
two  membranous  sacs,  filled  with  lymph  and  floating 
in  lymph,  inclosed  in  cavities  of  hard  bone  forming 
part  of  the  skull.  These  sacs  are  connected  by  open- 
11 


154  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

ings  with  one  another,  and  by  membranes  with  tlie 
middle  ear,  and  in  their  interior  contain  small,  mobile, 
hard  bodies — the  otoliths.  The  membranous  cochlea, 
which  is  to  hearing  what  the  retina  is  to  sight,  is  a 
double  tube  wound  about  a  spiral  bone.  On  its  inner 
surface,  extending  into  the  lymph,  is  a  most  remark- 
able series  of  threads,  called  the  fibers  of  Corti,  con- 
necting tufts  of  hairs  with  fibrils  of  the  auditory  nerve ; 
there  are  about  three  thousand  of  these,  each  with  its 
tuft  of  hairs,  and  they  are  very  generally  believed  to 
form  a  keyboard,  and  to  be  a  musical  instrument  ca- 
pable of  responding  to  the  utmost  niceties  of  pitch 
and  timbre.  Whether  the  fibers  vibrate,  or  the  con- 
nected hairs,  has  not  been  decided  ;  it  is,  however,  prob- 
able that  the  hairs  vibrate,  and  that  the  fibers  are  the 
converting  sensitive  cells. 

4.  As  to  the  functions  of  the  different  parts,  it  is 
undoubtedly  safe  to  say  that  the  outer  ear  conveys 
sound  vibrations  to  the  membrane  of  the  drum,  whose 
throbbings  are  passed  on  by  three  little  bones  (ossi- 
cles— the  mallet,  anvil  and  stirrup)  to  the  membrane 
of  the  oval  window,  which,  itself  pulsating,  sets  the 
lymph  of  the  labyrinth  into  rhythmic  motion;  this 
rhythm  throws  into  undulation  the  lymph  of  vestibule 
and  cochlea,  which  breaks  upon  the  nerve  endings  like 
the  sea  on  a  pebbly  beach,  increasing  the  intensity  of 
their  effect  by  lifting  and  dropping  the  otoliths,  just 
as  a  surf  lifts  and  drops  sand  and  shingle.  The  last 
vibrations  in  the  series  are  those  of  the  elastic  hairs, 
which  sensitive  cells  convert  into  nerve  energy  and 
send  to  the  brain. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  sound  waves  may 
reach  the  inner  ear,  though  very  imperfectly,  through 


HEARING.  155 

the  bony  parts  of  the  skull  and  through  the  Eusta- 
chian tubes. 

5.  An  auditory  sensation  lasts  a  short  time  after 
the  cessation  of  the  exciting  cause  ;  hence,  if  sounds 
follow  one  another  with  suflticient  rapidity,  they  ap- 
pear as  one  and  continuous.  There  must,  however, 
be  at  least  thirty  per  second  to  secure  perfect  conti- 
nuity of  imjjression.  If  these  successive  sounds  be 
caused  by  regular  and  periodic  impressions  they  form 
musical  tones.  There  must  be  not  less  than  thirty 
nor  more  than  twenty  thousand  per  second  to  insure 
perception. 

G.  Four  qualities  are  discernible  in  musical  tones — 
intensity,  pitch,  timbre  and  harmony. 

Intensity  depends  upon  the  amplitude  of  the  wave. 

Pitch  depends  upon  the  form  of  the  wave,  and 
hence  on  the  length  of  time  in  which  a  single  vibra- 
tion is  executed  or  the  number  of  vibrations  per  sec- 
ond. Acute  or  high  tone  is  produced  by  rapidly  suc- 
ceeding vibrations,  grave  or  low  tone  by  very  slow 
vibrations.  The  six  or  seven  octaves  of  a  piano  cover 
from  forty  to  four  thousand  per  second. 

Timbre  or  quality  is  that  peculiar  characteristic  of 
a  musical  sound  by  which  we  may  identify  it  as  pro- 
ceeding from  a  particular  instrument  or  from  a  par- 
ticular human  voice.  "It  depends  upon  the  number 
and  intensity  of  other  tones,  called  harmonic  or  partial 
tones,  added  to  the  fundamental  tone"  (Ladd). 

Harmony  describes  the  fact  that  several  notes 
reaching  the  ear  at  once  may,  if  the  necessary  rela- 
tions exist  between  the  numbers  of  vibrations,  produce 
a  sense  of  concord.  Soprano,  alto,  tenor  and  bass 
unite  to  produce  a  pleasing  effect,  not  from  any  arbi- 


156  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

trary  arruugement  of  things,  but  because  of  the  appli- 
cation in  musical  composition  of  certain  numerical 
laws  of  vibration. 

7.  The  functional  passivity  of  the  ear  favors  its  pre- 
ponderating influence  in  generating  mental  charac- 
teristics. "  The  extreme  ease  of  the  animal's  control 
over  the  eye,  and  the  absence  of  any  control  over  the 
ear,  made  a  difference  in  the  degree  in  which  the  com- 
mon animal  appetites  dominated  the  manner  of  the 
reception  of  the  two  kinds  of  impression.  The  pas- 
sivity of  the  ear  allowed  auditory  impressions  to  force 
themselves  into  consciousness  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  when  they  were  interesting  to  the  dominant 
desires  of  the  animal  and  when  they  were  not.  These 
impressions  got  farther  into  consciousness,  so  to  speak 
— before  desire  could  examine  their  right  of  entrance — 
than  was  possible  by  impressions  that  could  be  anni- 
hilated by  a  wink  or  a  turn  of  the  head."  Hence  au- 
ditory communication  of  thought,  and  the  enormous 
development  of  spoken  language. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE    MOTOR    END    ORGANS. 

As  a  description  of  the  various  muscle  machines 
constructed  by  Nature  to  serve  as  the  apparatus  of 
mind  for  voluntary  response  to  stimulus  would  be 
tedious,  and  for  our  main  purpose  needless,  we  refer 
the  reader  for  full  treatment  of  the  matter  to  the  vari- 
ous manuals  of  anatomy  and  physiology. 


SECTION  II, 
ANALYSIS   OF   THE   COGNITIVE   POWERS. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

SYNTHESIS   OF   SENSE    IMPKESSIONS. 

1.  Every  stimulation  of  an  end  organ,  if  it  reach 
the  brain,  occasions  a  change  in  the  central  brain  sub- 
stance. 

This  change  is  accompanied  by  a  corresponding 
psychic  activity.  Here  we  leap  the  chasm  and  pass 
from  matter  to  mind,  from  force  to  thought. 

2.  If  the  stimulations  of  any  one  end  organ  are 
successive  and  the  intervals  brief,  the  psychic  activity 
is  not  successive  and  with  intervals,  but  continuous. 
The  sensation  of  a  tone,  for  instance,  is  not  complex, 
though  its  occasioning  stimulus  be  composed  of  thou- 
sands of  sound  waves. 

3.  If  many  end  organs  of  the  same  kind  be  stimu- 
lated at  once,  the  resulting  impressions  are  co-ordi- 
nated— that  is,  they  ultimately  appear  in  consciousness 
as  one  color,  or  as  one  chord,  or  one  landscape,  some- 
where or  somehow  connected  and  co-ordinated  for  that 
purpose.  Take  a  landscape.  ]\Iillions  of  retinal  rods 
and  cones  are  involved,  and  each  has  its  message  of 
color  for  the  brain.  On  the  retina  the  landscape  is  a 
.mosaic  of  many  elements,  but  in  the  brain  it  is  a  unity. 


158  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

Each  stimulation  of  color  must  be  referred  to  that  part 
of  the  field  to  which  it  belongs,  and  all  must  be  com- 
bined. The  result  is  simple,  because  a  psychic  process 
of  synthesis  has  gone  on.  This  result  we  may  term  a 
construct. 

4.  Moreover,  if  different  kinds  of  end  organs  be 
stimulated  at  the  same  time,  the  resulting  constructs 
may  themselves  be  co-ordinated,  and  the  final  psychic 
result  still  seem  quite  simple ;  as  when  one  suddenly 
grasps  your  hand,  exciting  both  touch  and  muscular 
sense,  or  as  when  you  eat  chocolate,  and  touch,  taste 
and  smell  are  all  at  the  same  time  aroused. 

5.  This  work  of  noting,  connoting  and  co-ordi- 
nating does  not  come  into  consciousness  at  all.  It 
is  a  hereditary  and  instinctive  gift,  located  in  nerve 
apparatus,  from  which  in  the  evolution  of  the  nerve 
system  consciousness  has  withdrawn.  In  its  working 
we  probably  have  a  reminder  of  the  psychical  func- 
tions and  mind  activities  of  much  lower  stages  of 
development  than  that  of  man.  As  it  works  in  the 
dark,  we  can  give  account  only  of  its  causes  and  re- 
sults. Treatises  on  metaphysics  have  generally  ignored 
its  existence  and  potencies,  the  importance  of  subcon- 
scious activity  only  lately  having  been  recognized. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

SENSATION. 


1.  A  SENSATION  is  the  psychic  correlative  of  a 
synthesis  of  sense  impressions.  The  synthesis  acting 
as  if  it  were  simple,  occasions  in  the  brain  substance  a 
molecular  rearrangement,  and   corresponding  to  this 


SENSATION.  159 

molecular  rearrangement  occurs  the  jisychic  jDhenome- 
non  of  sensation.  Of  this  stupendous  correlation  we 
can  give  no  account.  Well  said  Lotze :  "  All  efforts 
to  demonstrate  how  it  comes  about  that  the  merely 
physical  motion  gradually  passes  over  into  sensation 
are  wholly  in  vain.  We  must  rather  be  satisfied  with 
asserting  that  a  necessity  of  Nature,  which  has  hitherto 
wholly  escaped  our  knowledge,  has"  in  fact  united  the 
two  series  of  processes,  the  motions  and  the  sensations 
• — incomparable  and  irreducible  to  each  other  as  they 
are — and  has  done  this  in  such  a  way  that  a  definite 
member  of  the  one  series  always  has  for  its  consequent 
a  definite  member  of  the  other." 

2.  Of  the  nature  of  the  molecular  rearrangement, 
also,  we  know  nothing ;  but  we  are  permitted  to  infer 
that  it  is  a  change  of  great  permanency,  as  sensations 
are  nearly  indelible  brain  records.  This  is  proved  by 
the  memory  phenomena  of  dreaming,  somnambulism 
and  hypnotism,  to  say  nothing  of  the  curious  mnemon- 
ic experiences  of  those  who  are  startled  by  accident. 
It  is  questionable  whether  anything  short  of  organic 
brain  disease,  or  the  brain  shriveling  of  old  age,  can 
erase  the  record  of  a  sensation  once  become  the  j^rop- 
erty  of  the  mind. 

3.  The  process  of  sensation  involves  time — a  brief 
period  for  the  sensory  impulse  to  roach  the  center,  and 
a  brief  period  for  the  psychic  reaction  in  the  center, 
which  latter  averages  about  one  fifteenth  of  a  second. 
Hence  we  need  not  be  surprised  that  impressions  en- 
tering very  rapidly  affect  the  mind  as  one  continuous 
sensation.  The  cause  is  composite,  the  result  simple — 
as  when  you  rapidly  swing  around  a  lighted  match  in 
the  dark  and  see  only  one  ring  of  fire. 


IQQ  THE   PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

4.  In  order  that  impression  result  in  sensation,  it 
must  contrast  with  what  precedes.  "  The  quite  grad- 
ual increase  in  strength  of  an  electric  current  will  at 
length  destroy  a  nerve  subjected  to  its  influence  with- 
out any  sign  of  sensation.  By  very  gradual  increase 
or  decrease  of  temperature,  a  frog  may  be  boiled  or 
frozen  to  death  without  making  the  smallest  move- 
ment. The  pressure  of  air  is  noticed  only  when  it 
varies.  .  .  .  There  is  no  series  of  absolutely  independ- 
ent sensations,  but  every  sensation  is  determined  by 
the  one  experienced  immediately  before  it  or  at  the 
same  time  "  (Hoeffding). 

The  necessary  contrast  may  involve  each  or  all  of 
three  differentia — quality,  intensity  and  tone,  all  of 
which  are  relative. 

5.  The  quality  of  a  sensation  depends  first  upon  its 
complexity,  and  second  upon  the  nature  of  the  stimu- 
lus. Thus,  in  hearing,  a  sensation  of  simple  tone  dif- 
fers from  a  sensation  of  harmony,  owing  to  the  varying 
complexities  of  the  sense  impressions,  though  all  of  a 
kind.  And  ether  vibrations  cause  light  or  heat  sensa- 
tions, according  as  the  length  of  the  wave  classes  it  in 
and  above  or  below  the  red  ;  the  stimulus,  though  in 
both  cases  vibratory  and  ethereal,  varies  greatly  in  its 
impact,  and  hence  in  its  result. 

G.  Quantity  (or  degree)  depends  upon  the  strength^ 
of  the  impression.  An  impression  must  attain  a  cer- 
■  tain  intensity  in  order  to  occasion  any  sensation  at  all, 
or,  in  other  words,  a  certain  inertia  of  resistance  must 
be  overcome.  This  point  is  described  as  the  threshold 
of  sensation.  The  extreme  maximum  limit  of  percep- 
tible impression  is  called  the  height  of  sensibility.  In 
between  lies  the  range. 


.  SENSATION.  IGl 

Increase  in  quantity  depends  upon  increase  in  the 
intensity  of  impression.  But  the  ratio  of  increase  for 
sensation  is  not  tlie  same  as  for  stimulus — that  is,  if 
you  would  have  more  sensibility  you  must  increase  the 
stimulus  not  in  the  same  ratio,  but  in  a  much  greater 
ratio.  If  a  stimulus  s  prodftces  a  sensation  x,  4:  s  will 
not  produce  4  x,  but  3  x  and  8  s  only  4  x.  This  fact, 
formulated  first  by  Weber,  and  later  more  accurately 
by  Fechner,  is  generally  stated  by  psychologists  in 
tliese  terms  :  "  The  strength  of  the  stimulus  must  in- 
crease iu  geometrical  progression  in  order  that  the 
sensation  may  increase  in  arithmetical  progression." 
It  must,  however,  be  noticed  that  "  Fechner's  law  "  is 
only  approximate ;  it  holds  for  a  medium  range  of 
sensations,  and  provided,  in  the  cases  compared,  the 
attention  be  constant.  Ribot's  opinion  is  that  it  is 
"  verified  within  certain  limits  for  visual  and  auditory 
sensations,  that  it  is  contested  for  pressure,  and  does 
not  hold  for  the  other  sensations."  It  must  also  be  re- 
membered that  all  sensations  in  threshold  and  height, 
as  well  as  in  intensity,  are  subject  to  considerable  va- 
riation, due  to  physiological  causes  and  personal  tem- 
perament. 

7.  Moreover,  the  increasing  intensity  of  a  sensation 
is  discontinuous.  "A  weight  three  must  increase  to  at 
least  four  in  order  to  give  a  new  sensation  of  pressure ; 
it  gives  no  new  sensation  if  only  3j,  3^,  3f  "  (Lotze). 
No  explanation  is  forthcoming. 

8.  The  tone  of  a  sensation — that  is,  its  pleasurable- 
ness  or  painfulness — primarily  depends  upon  its  relative 
intensity  and  quality.  Timeliness,  heredity,  habit, 
training,  and  intellectual,  aesthetic,  and  moral  appreci- 
ation, however,  come  in  for  a  large  share  in  deter- 


1C2  THE   PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

mining  both  the  relative  quality  and  the  relative  in- 
tensity.    Sensations  have  no  absolute  tone. 

9.  Sensations  may  not  enter  into  consciousness, 
and  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  probably 
do  not  do  so.  They  make  a  subconscious  record,  and, 
unless  circumstances  caH  them  forth,  never  emerge 
from  the  deep  into  the  sunshine.  And  of  sensations 
that  come  into  the  purview  of  consciousness,  by  far 
the  vast  majority  attract  no  attention  and  directly 
sink  beneath  the  surface,  as  when  one  is  passing  over 
the  country  in  a  railroad  train,  listlessly  gazing  out 
upon  the  ever-varying  landscape.  To  insure  the  notice 
of  consciousness,  and  especially  to  attract  its  attention, 
a  sensation  must  possess  some  degree  of  novelty  or 
some  measure  of  attractiveness.  Familiar  sights, 
sounds,  tastes,  etc.,  remain  unnoticed  ;  if  we  feel  them 
consciously  at  all  it  is  to  pass  them  by  as  a  matter  of 
course,  unless  they  be  of  the  sort  to  habitually  appeal 
to  love,  vanity,  fear,  or  some  other  strong  motive.  A 
savage  often  hears  the  roaring  of  wild  beasts,  but  this 
is  never  received  with  inattention.  A  sweetheart  often 
hears  her  praises  sounded  by  her  lover,  but  never  with 
indifference.  If,  however,  sensations  be  only  habitual, 
monotonous,  or  stupid,  they  never  venture  to  obtrude. 

10.  The  freshness  and  vividness  of  sensations  are 
intensified  by  attention.  An  absent-minded  person, 
though  a  lover  of  music,  may  lose  the  pleasing  effect 
of  the  most  beautiful  symphony  or  aria  through  sud- 
den distraction  of  attention  to  some  wonted  train  of 
thought.  Either  painful  or  pleasurable  sensations 
may  be  dulled  or  quite  ignored  by  persistent  distrac- 
tion. Consciousness  turns  the  yellow  spot  of  its  men- 
tal eye  upon  the  sensation,  and  it  is  seen  more  clearly. 


SENSATION.  163 

Attention  modifies  the  working  of  Weber's  law  to  dis- 
turb the  ever-varying  ratio  between  stimuhis  and  sen- 
sation in  favor  of  the  greater  intensity  of  the  latter. 
Moreover,  it  lessens  reaction  time. 

11.  Sensations  may  be  illusory  ;  they  may  not  re- 
sult from  external  stimulation,  or  they  may  not  be 
normal.  Quite  frequently  the  end  organ  in  a  reversed 
reflex  action  is  aroused  by  the  brain,  and  the  mind 
plays  pranks  on  itself.  The  optic  nerve  quivers  with 
a  message  not  communicated  by  the  ether  waves,  the 
olfactory  signals  an  odor  not  on  the  breeze,  the  tongue 
tastes  when  no  food  is  in  the  mouth,  etc. 

The  simulation  may  be  occasioned  by  disease  of  the 
end  organ,  as  in  deafness,  when  one  hears  bells  ring 
and  gongs  sound  and  voices  call,  or  as  in  a  cold,  when 
one  smells  nothing  but  imaginary  smoke. 

Many  persons  are  subject  to  auditory  spectra ;  they 
hear  unaccountably  music  or  words  or  their  own  name. 
Huxley  says  :  "  I  know  not  if  other  persons  are  simi- 
larly troubled,  but  in  reading  books  written  by  authors 
with  whom  I  am  acquainted  I  am  always  tormented 
by  hearing  the  words  pronounced  in  the  exact  way  in 
which  these  persons  would  utter  them,  any  trick  or 
peculiarity  of  voice  or  gesture  being  also  very  accu- 
rately reproduced.  And  I  suppose  that  every  one 
must  have  been  startled  by  the  extreme  distinctness 
with  which  his  thoughts  have  embodied  themselves  in 
apparent  voices." 

Moreover,  such  illusions  may  be  at  will  produced 
by  artificial  combinations  of  sensations.  Ventriloquism 
is  a  good  illustration  of  sensory  illusion,  deceiving  the 
ear  by  simulated  tones,  and  the  eye  by  corresponding 
gestures.    Optical  illusions  are  very  numerous,  because 


104         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

what  we  ordinarily  consider  simple  visual  sensations 
are  often  complex  aggregates  not  only  of  various  sen- 
sations tactual  as  well  as  visual,  but  also  of  recollec- 
tions and  judgments.  If  a  continuous  series  of  pic- 
tures of  one  object  be  impressed  upon  one  part  of  the 
retina,  the  mind  judges  that  they  are  due  to  a  single 
object  undergoing  changes.  This  is  the  principle  of 
the  zoetrope. 

It  is  commonly  said  that  one  must  believe  one's 
senses ;  it  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  this  claim 
fails  of  an  absolute  validity.  In  general  true,  it  needs 
careful  delimitation  ;  and  much  of  the  superstition  that 
has  ever  cursed  the  human  mind  has  based  itself  upon 
mere  sensory  illusions,  through  misinterpretation  be- 
come delusions — voices  from  heaven,  spectral  music, 
ghostly  apparitions,  and  so  on. 

12.  It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  sensa- 
tion is  utterly  different  from  the  things  or  motions 
that  cause  it.  The  ear  is  excited  by  sound  vibrations, 
and  the  eye  by  light  vibrations,  but  neither  sound  nor 
sight  is  in  the  least  like  any  series  of  vibrations. 
Moreover,  the  same  stimulus  may  excite  different  end 
organs  so  as  to  produce  sensations  which  shall  not  in 
the  least  be  like  each  other.  If  a  man  squeeze  your 
hand  you  feel  his  friendly  touch ;  if  he  squeeze  3^our 
eye  you  "see  stars."  Electricity  will  occasion  lumi- 
nosity, taste,  smell,  or  touch,  according  to  its  point  of 
attack.  Different  stimuli,  on  the  contrary,  exciting 
the  same  end  organs,  may  also  occasion  utterly  differ- 
ent sensations.  On  the  eye  light  produces  vision,  elec- 
tricity a  mere  luminousness,  heat  only  pain,  and  sound 
no  effect  whatever. 

13.  Sensations  may  themselves  blend  together  in 


SENSATION,  1(55 

groups  which  seem  simple,  as  when  one  listens  to  a 
symphony  or  an  oratorio.  Here  the  sensation  of  hear- 
ing is  composed  of  a  vast  number  of  sensations  of 
successive  chords  of  music,  and  differing  qualities  of 
voices  and  instruments. 

14.  Sensations  form  the  ultimate  material  for 
tliought.  "  Systems  about  fact  must  plunge  them- 
selves into  sensation,  as  bridges  plunge  their  piers 
into  the  rock.  Sensations  are  the  stable  rock — the  ter- 
minus a  quo  and  the  terminus  ad  quern  of  thought" 
(James). 

15.  Pure  sensations  can  only  be  realized  in  the 
earliest  days  of  life,  when  the  babe's  experience,  again 
to  quote  James,  "  leaves  its  unimaginable  touch  upon 
the  matter  of  the  convolutions,  and  the  next  impres- 
sion which  a  sense  organ  transmits  produces  a  cerebral 
reaction  in  which  the  awakened  vestige  of  the  last  im- 
pression plays  its  part.  .  .  .  The  complication  goes  on 
increasing  till  the  end  of  life,  no  two  successive  im- 
pressions falling  on  an  identical  brain,  and  no  two 
successive  thoughts  being  exactly  the  same."  Wundt 
claims  that  "pure  sensation  is  an  abstraction,  which 
never  actually  occurs  in  consciousness  "  ;  he  urges  that 
"every  presentation  (Vorstellung)  is  a  synthesis  of 
a  plurality  of  sensations." 

16.  Sensations  develop  aflRnities,  behaving  much 
like  the  molecules  of  substances :  as  these  associate 
themselves  in  series  and  groupings  called  compounds, 
so  sensations  spring  into  one  another's  arms,  embrace, 
join  hands,  and  form  series  and  groups.  Even  if  they 
enter  in  comparative  isolation,  as  in  case  of  tlie  sudden 
report  of  a  gun,  directly  they  associate  themselves  with 
other  and  relevant  sensations. 


166  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

17.  There  is  nothiug,  seemingly,  to  forbid  the  rise 
of  new  kinds  of  sensation,  divaricating  branches  of 
those  already  possessed  or  based  upon  entirely  novel 
end  organs  yet  to  arise.  Some  animals  do  apparently 
possess  senses  not  enjoyed  by  man,  and  in  man  there 
are  manifest  gaps  to  fill,  as  a  sense  to  interpret  the 
ultraviolet  rays  of  the  spectrum,  a  magnetic  and  an 
electric  sense.  Indeed,  within  a  few  years  able  sci- 
entists have  announced  the  discovery  of  a  new  series 
of  end  organs  in  the  semicircular  canals ;  which,  com- 
monly considered  instruments  for  gauging  the  direc- 
tion of  sound,  are  now  claimed  for  a  sense  of  rotation. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE   PERCEPTIVE    PROCESS. 

1.  Is  complex.  We  have  been  taught  to  name  it 
perception,  and  assured  that  it  was  one  of  "  the  fac- 
ulties "  ;  but  really  it  is  a  composite  of  many  and  dif- 
ferent mental  habitudes.  It  is  the  whole  mind  in  the 
act  of  acquiring  knowledge. 

The  characteristic  feature,  however,  is  the  exter- 
nalizing of  sensations.  We  have  seen  that  sensations 
are  subjective.  The  perceptive  process  externalizes 
them.  A  solitary  perception  is  an  aggregate  of  sen- 
sations externalized.  This  is  why  Kant's  famous  dic- 
tum is  true,  and  the  mind  does  not  know  anything 
"  in  itself,"  but  in  its  qualities. 

2.  Mind  is  equipped  for  the  perceptive  process  by 
certain  original  and  certain  acquired  gifts. 

The  original  gifts  are  the  ideas  of  time  and  space, 


THE  PERCEPTIVE   PROCESS.  167 

which  seem  to  be  necessary  and  universal  forms  of 
thought. 

The  acquired  gifts  are  the  mind's  practical  wisdom, 
the  results  of  previous  observation  and  experience, 
which  latter  are  largely  ancestral — that  is,  instinctive 
— knowledge  crystallized  in  inherited  brain  structure. 
We  receive  as  a  bequest  the  accumulated  practical 
wisdom  of  countless  generations  of  sentient  beings, 
and  upon  this  depends  the  methods  and  accuracy  of 
our  perception.  To  this  ancestral  dexterity  wc  grad- 
ually add  tlie  acquired  dexterities  of  our  own  lifetime, 
beginning  with  early  infancy. 

But  all  this  is  under  the  pervasive  reign  of  the 
ideas  of  time  and  space. 

3.  The  evolutionary  history  of  perception,  could 
we  know  its  true  inwardness,  would  be  one  of  the 
most  fascinating  chapters  in  psychology ;  but  we  may 
only  surmise  the  story  of  that  dawning  knowledge  of 
the  world  wliich  gradually  shone — more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day — upon  primeval  mind,  and  in 
course  of  ages,  in  ever-expanding  forms,  approached 
man's  intuition  of  the  universe.  No  doubt  it  is,  how- 
ever, in  the  after-stages,  at  least  dimly  recapitulated 
to  us  in  our  own  infancy  and  childhood. 

The  babe  at  first  experiences  sensations,  but  scarcely 
perceives.  Soon,  however,  the  sensations  of  light  and 
sound,  of  warmth  and  touch,  which  at  first  were  felt 
without  recognition,  begin  to  excite  a  responsive  smile 
or  cry,  and  the  infant  is  joyfully  observed  to  "  take 
notice."  From  this  point  onward  to  manhood  life  is 
largely  a  training  in  perception. 

4.  The  perceptive  process  is  threefold  :  it  localizes 
sensations  in  or  on  the  body  ;  it  projects  them  into 


168  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

space,  attributing  tliem  to  things  ;  it  arranges  them, 
where  they  permit  of  it,  in  order  of  sequence  or  in 
spatial  perspective. 

To  do  all  this  it  marshals  sensation,  memory,  im- 
agination, judgment  and  every  mental  habitude  in  its 
service. 

(1)  Localizing  of  sensations  in  different  parts  of 
the  body  is  the  result  of  observation  and  experience, 
partly  ancestral  and  partly  individual.  That  it  is  the 
nose  which  smells,  the  tongue  which  tastes,  the  eyes 
which  see,  and  the  ears  which  hear,  is  the  inevitable 
conclusion  of  reasoning  based  upon  touch  and  mus- 
cular perceptions.  Thus  to  smell  accurately  one  must 
sniff,  and  sniffing  calls  attention  to  the  nose.  We 
have  good  reason  for  believing  that  subconscious  lo- 
calization has  become  very  precise  and  minute.  Lotze 
supposes  that  every  feeling  point  has  acquired  a  "  local 
sign  "  of  its  own,  whereby  it  is  distinguished  at  the 
nerve  centers  from  all  the  others.  The  particular  im- 
pressions at  first  are  intensive  merely,  but  the  mind 
gives  to  them  an  extensive  significance.  This  famous 
theory  of  "local  signs"  is  Lotze's  principal  contri- 
bution to  modern  psychology.  Or,  to  state  it  in  the 
philosopher's  own  words :  "Every  impression  of  color, r 
— for  example,  red — produces  on  all  places  of  the  retina 
which  it  reaches  the  same  sensation  of  redness.  In 
addition,  however,  it  produces  on  each  of  these  differ- 
ent places,  a,  5,  c,  a  certain  accessory  impression,  a,  /?,  y, 
which  is  independent  of  the  nature  of  the  color  seen, 
and  dependent  merely  on  the  nature  of  the  place  ex- 
cited. This  second  local  impression  would  therefore 
be  associated  with  every  impression  of  color,  r,  in  such 
manner  that  r  a  signifies  a  red  that  acts  on  the  point 


THE  PERCEPTIVE  PROCESS.  IG'J 

a;  r  p  signifies  the  same  red  in  case  it  act  upon  the 
point  b.  These  associated  accessory  impressions  would 
accordingly  render  the  soul  the  clew,  by  following 
which  it  transposes  the  same  red,  now  to  one,  now  to 
the  other  spot,  or  simultaneously  to  the  different  spots 
in  the  space  intuited  by  it.  The  result  is  that  we  rec- 
ognize the  locality  of  an  impression,  provided  we  have 
already  had  experience  at  that  point,  and  the  more 
habitual  the  experience,  so  much  the  more  accurate 
the  recognition." 

Fatigue,  lowered  temperature,  or  other  abnormal 
condition  may  mar  the  precision  of  localization  by 
obscuring  the  impression. 

Disease  also  may  work  derangement. 

(2)  The  projection  of  sensations  is  much  more 
complicated,  as  these  have  no  length,  breadth,  height, 
objectivity,  or  external  reality.  Even  if  localized  by 
local  signs,  they  are  so  far  only  intensive. 

Projection  grants  them  extension.  "  Objects  are 
perceived  in  space  as  situated  in  a  right  line  off  the 
end  of  the  nerve  fibrils,  which  they  irritate"  (Ladd). 
Thus  the  retina  receives  the  image  of  a  landscape  in 
points  of  light,  exciting  a  vast  number  of  retinal  ele- 
ments, which  image  is  inverted  and  reversed ;  but  in 
perception  each  point  of  light  is  referred  back  to  its 
place  of  origin  and  given  existence  in  space. 

Hence  we  have  a  field  of  touch  and  a  visual  field. 

The  field  of  touch  is  the  most  ancient  method  of 
projection,  and  must  have  been  acquired  by  the  lowest 
protozoans  at  the  very  beginnings  of  life.  This  is  the 
only  field  of  space  persons  born  blind  possess. 

The  field  of  vision  easily  results  from  the  projec- 
tion of  sensations  received  in  images  on  the  retina 


170  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

into  space,  seriatim.  This,  in  case  of  compound  eyes, 
is  manifest ;  but  it  is  as  true  with  simple. 

There  is  no  field  of  smelling,  tasting,  hearing,  etc., 
though  sounds  are  in  a  measure  localized,  and  odors, 
savors,  heat  and  cold  are  perceived  under  at  least 
ideas  of  space. 

(3)  The  arrangement  of  projected  sensations  under 
laws  of  extension  and  harmony  is  yet  another  function 
of  perception,  and  it  may  be  tactual,  visual  or  audi- 
tory. In  the  field  of  touch — direction,  the  three  di- 
mensions of  extension,  hardness,  distance,  size,  etc., 
are  noted.  In  the  field  of  vision — color,  direction,  dis- 
tance, perspective,  size,  etc.,  are  noted. 

Sounds  are  arranged  as  successive  or  contempo- 
raneous in  noises,  tones,  melodies,  harmonies,  etc. 

Taste  and  smell,  hot  and  cold,  fail  of  arrangement 
in  dimensions,  motions  or  series  of  any  kind,  either 
because  they  are  incapable  of  it  or  because  the  faculty 
of  perception  has  not  yet  been  educated  to  detect  the 
laws  that  govern  them. 

5.  In  the  field  of  touch,  perception  is  determined 
by  pressures  nicely  varied,  weighed  and  compared, 
by  muscular  sense  of  resistances  also  nicely  varied, 
weighed  and  comj^ared,  by  keen  discrimination  of  the 
degrees  of  muscular  innervations  required  for  move- 
ments, and  also  no  doubt  by  judgments  of  temper- 
ature. Pressure,  resistance,  motion  and  heat  are  here 
the  prime  factors  of  knowledge. 

In  the  field  of  vision,  perception  depends  upon  the 
muscular  movements  of  the  muscles  of  the  eyeball  and 
of  the  lens,  on  the  sense  of  innervation,  and  on  the 
differential  impression  of  separate  retinal  elements. 
It  is  materially  improved  by  the  motion  of  the  eyeballs 


THE   PERCEPTIVE  PROCESS.  IJl 

and  the  conjoint  vision  of  two  eyes.  Its  results  are 
corroborated  by  the  aid  of  touch. 

Of  direction  we  learn  by  comparing  the  line  con- 
necting the  yellow  spot  and  the  point  of  regard  with 
general  position  of  the  body. 

Form  in  two  dimensions  is  perceived  by  the  wan- 
dering of  the  point  of  regard  over  an  object  observed. 
Form  in  three  dimensions  results  from  the  conjoint 
use  of  both  eyes  viewing  the  object  from  slightly 
different  standpoints,  the  images  falling  on  identical 
or  corresponding  spots  of  the  retina,  or  from  the  use 
of  the  accommodative  muscles  of  either  eye. 

Distance  is  gauged  by  the  angle  of  muscular  con- 
vergence for  near  objects,  and  by  judgment  of  aerial 
perspective  for  those  afar.  The  muscles  of  accom- 
modation assist  for  near  objects,  and  if  trained  will  of 
themselves  give  accurate  measurements. 

The  apparent  size  of  an  object  depends  upon  the 
extent  of  the  retinal  image  in  connection  with  an  esti- 
mate of  distance.  The  degree  of  illumination  avails 
also  in  forming  an  estimate.  "  Distances  we  estimate 
(very  indefinitely)  as  smaller  for  bright  objects,  larger 
for  dark  ones — much  more  accurately  as  smaller  so 
long  as  the  interior  delimitation  of  things  continues 
to  be  clear,  larger  in  case  it  makes  a  confused  impres- 
sion as  a  whole.  We  principally,  however,  employ 
three  factors — the  actual  magnitude  of  a  thing,  its 
apparent  magnitude,  and  the  distance,  in  order  from 
two  of  them  to  ascertain  the  third  "  (Lotze). 

6.  The  result  of  the  perceptive  process  is  a  percept 
or  intuition  of  some  thing,  and  how  far  the  thing  we 
intuit  is  identical  in  its  qualities  with  our  percept  de- 
pends upon  the  accuracy  of  our  previous  experience 


172  THE   PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

and  observation  and  the  keenness  of  our  present  judg- 
ment. It  constitutes  at  best  only  a  relative  and  imper- 
fect knowledge,  though  we  are  not  justified  in  calling 
it  hallucination,  as  Taine  and  other  experimental  psy- 
chologists have  done.  Hallucination  is  the  external- 
izing of  ideas ;  the  externalizing  of  sensations  is  knowl- 
edge. Of  course  it  is  knowledge  of  the  world  as  we 
know  it,  the  world  of  phenomena,  of  what  appears  to 
us  and  must  vary  much  from  the  cognition  of  other 
and  different  creatures.  A  dog's  world,  or  an  ant's 
world,  or  a  fish's  world,  could'  we  somehow  perceive 
with  their  end  organs,  would  doubtless  much  amaze 
us,  for  both  defects  and  revelations. 

7.  This  is  the  more  important,  because  here  as 
everywhere  illusion  is  possible.  The  most  correct 
sensations  may  be  faultily  projected  and  arranged,  or 
mere  subjective  feelings  or  ideas  may  be  externalized 
as  realities.  I  perceive  smoke,  and  there  is  none.  I 
perceive  an  absent  friend  who  directly  vanishes  away 
into  thin  air.  I  hear  my  name  called  when  no  one 
spoke.  I  look  out  from  the  car  window  and  perceive 
the  landscape  moving.  These  illusions  are  due  to  dis- 
ease, to  faulty  judgment,  feeble  imagination,  instinc- 
tive inferences,  etc. ;  but  they  condition  the  accuracy 
of  the  perceptive  process.  They  may  also  be  owing  to 
an  overactive  imagination  ;  the  same  poet  or  dreamer 
who  by  normal  hallucination  makes  real  his  own  ideas, 
may,  by  a  reverse  process,  but  through  the  same  cause, 
idealize  realities.  Wordsworth,  speaking  of  his  own 
boyhood,  said  :  "  I  was  often  unable  to  think  of  external 
things  as  having  external  existence,  and  I  communed 
with  all  I  saw  as  something  not  apart  from,  but  inher- 
ent in  my  own  immaterial  nature.     Many  times  while 


THE  PERCEPTIVE  PROCESS.  173 

going  to  school  have  I  grasped  at  a  wall  or  tree  to  re- 
call myself  from  this  abyss  of  idealism  to  the  reality. 
At  that  time  I  was  afraid  of  such  processes.  In  later 
times  I  have  deplored,  as  we  all  have  reason  to  do,  a 
subjugation  of  an  opposite  character,  and  have  rejoiced 
over  these  remembrances."  Tennyson  said  one  day  : 
"  Sometimes,  as  I  sit  alone  in  this  great  room,  I  get 
carried  away  out  of  sense  and  body  and  rapt  into 
mere  existence,  till  the  accidental  touch  or  movement 
of  one  of  my  own  fingers  is  like  a  great  shock  and 
blow,  and  brings  the  body  back  with  a  terrible 
start." 

Indeed,  it  is  through  discovery  of  our  follies  of  per- 
ception that  we  become  truly  informed.  Untold  gen- 
erations of  sentient  creatures  have  bequeathed  to  us 
their  practical  wisdom,  acquired  through  countless 
mistakes,  failures  and  miseries,  and  their  bitter  expe- 
rience has  suffered  not  in  vain.  On  the  whole,  and  in 
broad  averages,  our  intuitions  of  the  universe  are  in 
accordance  with  the  facts.  Our  knowledge  of  things 
is  tentative,  but  real ;  relative,  but  suitable ;  finite, 
but  enough.  Science  has  much  to  do  to  disabuse  our 
minds  on  many  points,  but  still  a  "  spade  is  a  spade," 
and  "  a  man's  a  man  for  a'  that  and  a'  that." 
^  8.  Moreover,  the  education  of  this  perceptive  pro- 
cess is  still  in  active  operation  ;  nay,  we  ourselves  may 
each  educate  perception  as  we  do  memory.  Commence 
teaching  your  children  when  only  babes  how  to  see 
and  hear  everything,  and  how  to  judge  things  accu- 
rately, and  long  before  they  themselves  open  books 
keen  eyes  and  ears  will  have  come  for  that  book  which 
is  alwa3's  and  everywhere  open.  Tliis  training  can  be 
made  minute.     It  will  be  remembered  that  the  two 


174  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

points  of  a  pair  of  dividers  can  be  distinguished  as  sep- 
arate when  only  one  millimetre  apart  on  the  tongue, 
while  on  the  back  sixty-eight  millimetres  will  but  just 
suffice  to  insure  the  same  results.  Now  Volkmann  has 
shown  that  education  by  practice  will  fully  double  this 
sensibility  for  any  given  part,  and  in  a  very  brief  pe- 
riod. The  marvelous  tactual  perceptiveness  acquired 
by  the  blind  affords  further  illustration. 

9.  The  vigor  of  perception  depends  upon  a  concen- 
tration of  attention  upon  the  psychic  action  occasion- 
ing it.  We  may  easily  see  and  not  perceive,  or  per- 
ceiving, not  perceive  clearly.  That  the  process  may 
be  keen  and  accurate,  the  mind  must  direct  and  super- 
vise. You  smell  odors  of  flowers — you  stop,  sniff  the 
air,  and  perceive  that  it  is  mignonette.  Or  you  hear 
a  bell,  start  up,  and  on  the  second  stroke,  listening, 
perceive  that  it  is  the  fire  alarm.  A  steamer  passes  on 
the  river ;  you  shade  your  eyes,  look  intently,  and  per- 
ceive the  name  on  the  pilot  house. 

10.  Perception  works  as  readily  below  conscious- 
ness as  does  sensation.  Indeed,  subconscious  percep- 
tion takes  cognizance  of  a  world  of  facts,  which  the 
surface  ego  does  not  immediately,  and  may  never  recog- 
nize. Coleridge  cites  the  case  of  a  boy  who,  at  the 
age  of  four,  suffered  fracture  of  the  skull,  for  which ^ 
he  underwent  the  operation  of  the  trepan.  He  was  at 
the  time  in  a  state  of  perfect  stupor,  and  after  his  re- 
covery retained  no  recollection  either  of  the  accident 
or  of  the  operation.  At  the  age  of  twelve,  however, 
during  the  delirium  of  fever,  he  gave  his  mother  an 
account  of  the  operation  and  the  persons  who  were 
present  at  it,  with  a  correct  description  of  their  dress 
and  minute  particulars. 


MEMORY.  175 

Our  entire  treatment  of  the  subconscious  has  al- 
ready made  this  fact  empliatically  apparent. 

A  highly  intelligent  anonymous  Englishwoman, 
who  has  devoted  much  attention  to  crystal  vision,  one 
day  saw  in  her  crystal  a  first-page  column  of  the  Lon- 
don Times  and  an  announcement  of  the  death  of  a 
lady  at  one  time  a  frequent  visitor  in  her  circle,  with 
date,  place  and  circumstances.  This  startled  her, 
and  seemed  clairvoyance  ;  it  was,  however,  only  mem- 
ory, for  later  she  discovered  that  the  announcement 
had  been  in  a  morning  paper  she  had  glanced  over. 
It  had  stimulated  the  retina  and  been  telegraphed  to 
the  brain,  and  there  became  a  sensation  subconsciously 
perceived;  only,  however,  to  sink  into  the  limbo  of 
percepts  unheeded. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

MEMOEY. 

1.  Memoky  is  simply  a  name  for  the  persistency 
of  sensations  and  of  other  mental  states ;  as  Cicero 
called  it,  "  Thesaurus  omnium  rerum." 

It  is  probable  that  every  mental  state  leaves  some 
indelible  record  upon  the  brain.  This  we  infer  from 
the  flashing  into  consciousness,  at  times  of  startling 
calamity,  of  a  great  number  and  variety  of  facts  sup- 
posed to  have  been  forgotten,  and  from  the  phenomena 
of  hypnotism  with  its  multiple  mnemonic  chains.  But 
there  are  many  other  sources  of  information  on  tlie 
subject.  Old  age  will  often  restore  events  of  child- 
hood seemingly  utterly  lost  to  mind,  while  disease  in 


176      '  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR, 

feverish  excitement  will  bring  to  the  front  a  vast  con- 
geries of  facts  wliich  seemed  hopelessly  faded. 

The  author  has  observed  that,  though  fine  music 
gives  him  the  greatest  delight,  he  easily  forgets  the 
strain  on  a  first  hearing,  and  can  not  after  the  concert 
repeat  a  single  melody ;  but  if  his  mind  dwell  lovingly 
upon  the  brief  joy  and  often  return  to  the  memorable 
event,  after  a  week  or  two  he  is  found  humming  to 
himself  the  identical  lost  airs :  his  mind,  impressed 
with  his  desire  to  recall  the  strains,  laboriously  fishes 
up  out  of  the  depths  of  subconsciousness  the  seemingly 
lost  but  really  indestructible  series  of  sensations. 

2.  While  we  claim  that  memories  are  practically 
indelible,  we  must  not  be  understood  as  asserting  that 
they  are  unalterable.  The  physical  apparatus  of  per- 
manence may  itself  undergo  changes  involving  con- 
siderable modification  of  the  original  sensations.  If 
you  cut  your  name  into  the  bark  of  a  tree  it  will 
remain  there  until  the  trunk  decays,  albeit  for  five 
hundred  years;  but  the  letters  undergo  gradual  dis- 
tortion with  the  swelling  of  girth  and  lapse  of  time ; 
so  sensations  recorded  may  be  distorted,  fade  in  dis- 
tinctness, and  blur  in  outline,  but  without  entire  efface- 
ment.  This  fact  forms  the  physical  explanation  of 
many  mistakes  and  much  untrustworthiness  in  human 
testimony ;  the  original  record  may  have  been  truth- 
ful, and  it  is  indelible,  but  now  weather-worn,  time- 
eaten. 

3.  Forgetfulness  is  not  loss  of  any  part  of  the  ac- 
quired wealth,  but  only  the  inability  at  the  moment  to 
find  the  particular  item  of  treasure  wanted.  The 
memories  of  most  persons  are  mere  Junk  shops,  and 
people  acquire  only  to  forget.     A  retentive,  well-stored 


MEMORY.  177 

memory  is  an  orderly  museum,  where  everything  is 
labeled,  catalogued  and  easily  accessible. 

4.  Particular  items  of  memory  develop  affinities. 
They  tend  to  group  themselves  together,  much  as  do 
sensations,  and  under  the  same  laws  of  association. 
You  never  find  one  that  does  not  suggest  another. 
Hence  we  speak  of  memory's  chain,  and  we  may  be 
sure  the  links,  though  they  fall  out  of  sight  into  a 
deep  of  subconsciousness,  are  never  dropped. 

5.  The  intensity  of  memory  depends  upon  the 
original  intensity  of  attention  fixed  upon  the  sensations 
or  mental  states  restored.  Facts  that  enter  subcon- 
sciously, or  that,  unnoticed,  are  quickly  dropped  from 
consciousness,  though  they  persist,  do  not  easily  come 
up  into  view,  and  are  among  the  countless  hosts  of  the 
forgotten.  Hence  the  transitoriness  of  that  learning 
which  is  described  as  cramming.  As  we  have  not  well 
perceived  anything  which  has  not  fallen  upon  the 
yellow  spot  of  the  eye,  so  we  have  not  well  memorized 
anything  that  has  failed  to  fall  upon  the  yellow  spot  of 
consciousness. 

6.  In  old  age,  the  failure  of  memory  is  a  breakdown 
of  the  brain  structure.  The  ganglia  shrivel  and  lose 
Aveight,  size  and  vitality.  The  last  records  go  first. 
The  physical  apparatus  may  also  be  erased  or  confused 
by  various  forms  of  disease.  Possibly  this  proves  that 
groups  of  remembered  items  are,  in  their  physiologi- 
cal records,  localized  in  the  brain.  We  are  not,  how- 
ever, to  suppose  that  each  separate  item  is  stored  up 
in  a  separate  nerve-cell,  developed  or  appropriated  for 
its  indwelling.  Pather  all  the  facts  bear  in  favor  of 
the  hypothesis  that  every  nerve-cell,  and  indeed  every 
cell  in  the  human  body,  has  its  own  mnemonic  series. 


178  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

7.  The  very  extraordinary  facts  of  dual  or  trinal 
consciousness  show  that  memory  admits  of  curious 
cleavages.  A  somnambulist  recalls  in  the  waking 
stage  little  or  nothing  of  the  sleep-life.  A  dual  per- 
sonality is  a  memory,  crevassed  into  two ;  and  sub- 
personalities  are  simply  subtrains  of  consciousness, 
developing  each  a  mnemonic  series  of  its  own. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

THE    RECOLLECTIVE    PROCESS. 

1.  This  is  the  mind's  power  to  restore  to  conscious- 
ness former  mental  states.  Memory  only  preserves; 
recollection  revivifies. 

The  restoration  is  only  an  image  or  idea  of  what 
once  was  a  sensation,  percept,  or  other  mental  state — a 
fainter  renewal  of  the  former  experience. 

2.  We  call  this  a  process  because,  like  perception, 
it  is  very  complex,  involving  the  whole  mind  in  use  of 
many  of  its  habitudes.     It  involves 

(1)  Personal  identity — taking  for  granted  that  I 
am  the  same  I  that  I  was. 

(2)  Discovery.  Recollection  must  search  the  ar- 
chives of  memory  and  find  what  is  wanted — in  most 
cases  a  Herculean  task. 

(3)  Recognition.  What  is  found  must  in  the  find- 
ing be  recognized  as  the  identical  former  state  laid 
away. 

(4)  Restoration.  This  is  the  faint  revival  of  the 
original  state. 


THE  RECOLLECTIVE  PROCESS.  179 

3.  Recollection  may  work  either  automatically  or 
volitionally.  In  the  former  case  it  is  suggestion,  in 
the  latter  reminiscence. 

Suggestion  is  most  active  in  reverie  and  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  dreaming.  Eeminiscence  is  most  active 
in  those  various  forms  of  cerebration  which  involve 
mental  effort.  Suggestion  is  play,  entailing  but  little 
waste  of  nerve  tissue  or  force,  as  it  follows  lines  of 
least  resistance,  and  recalls  only  Avhat  is  uppermost. 
Reminiscence  is  work,  and  often  extremely  hard. 

4.  The  laws  that  control  suggestion  and  reminis- 
cence are  those  principles  of  association  already  stated, 
under  caption  of  the  Enchaining  and  Grouping  Func- 
tion of  Consciousness — the  laws  of  simultaneity  and 
affinity.  Memories  cohere,  owing  to  their  co-existence 
or  immediate  succession  in  time  ;  owing  to  their  re- 
semblance, contiguity,  or  integral  or  causal  relation  to 
one  another.  A  memory  comes  up  into  consciousness 
or  subconsciousness  only  as  it  is  fished  out  of  the 
depths  by  help  of  some  chain  of  sequence  in  which 
it  forms  a  link.  But  bear  in  mind  that  much  of  this 
chain  will  likely  remain  out  of  sight,  and,  furthermore, 
that  the  chain  coheres  in  an  infinitely  tangled  network 
with  numberless  other  lines  of  association. 

Dreams  are  immediately  forgotten  because  isolated 
in  the  act  of  memorizing  from  all  real  fact  and  event. 
Con  over  your  dream  immediately  on  awaking,  write 
it  down  and  talk  about  it,  and  it  will  become  easily 
accessible  for  future  reference,  because  its  affinities 
with  reality  have  been  developed. 

5.  Hence  there  may  be  skill  in  recollection,  and 
indeed  there  is  a  science  of  mnemonics.  He  will  recall 
his  memories  easily  who,  in  storing  them  away,  pur- 


180  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

posely  associates  tliem  with  other  easily  accessible  and 
similar  or  contrasted  facts,  notions,  or  events.  It 
needs  only  to  bring  things  difficult  to  recall  into  touch 
with  things  easily  and  often  remembered. 

The  defect  of  learning  by  rote,  or  of  committing 
knowledge  verbally  to  memory,  is  that  the  entering 
series  is  only  a  single  chain,  and  not,  as  it  should  be,  a 
network  for  each  link.  Great  is  the  confusion  of 
one  who  "  parrots  off  "  knowledge,  if  interrupted  "  in 
medias  res  "  ;  he  must  commence  all  over  again.  His 
recollection  is  a  thread,  and  threads  are  easily  broken, 
and  more  often  lost. 

The  cramming  of  knowledge  is  equally  defective, 
and  for  similar  reasons.  The  mind  has  no  time  or 
strength  of  digestion  for  crude  and  confused  heaps  of 
material.  Memories  are  allowed  no  opportunity  to  de- 
velop those  affinities  so  useful  in  recollection. 

Time  and  attention  are  both  indispensable  in  the 
real  acquisition  of  knowledge. 

6.  The  vigor  of  recollection  depends  upon  a  num- 
ber of  considerations — whether,  for  instance,  the  thing 
to  be  recalled  be  vivid,  whether  it  be  pleasant,  whether 
it  have  been  recalled  a  great  many  times,  and  whether 
it  have  recently  been  in  review. 

Extraordinary  vigor  is  of  course  a  rare  native  gift. 
Sir  William  Hamilton  cites  the  remarkable  case  of  a 
young  Italian  to  whom,  in  a  party  of  distinguished 
men,  words  were  dictated,  countless  words, — Latin, 
Greek,  barbarous,  significant  and  not  significant,  dis- 
jointed and  connected — until  all  were  wearied  but 
the  youth,  who  called  for  more.  Every  word  was  re- 
peated in  its  order  without  hesitation.  Then,  com- 
mencing with  the  last,  he  repeated  them  backward 


THE  RECOLLECTIVE   PROCESS.  181 

until  he  came  to  the  first.  Then  he  repeated  the  first, 
third,  fifth,  etc.,  in  any  desired  series.  He  claimed 
tliat  he  could  do  this  with  thirty  thousand  words,  and 
even  after  a  year's  time.  It  is  said  of  Grotius  and  of 
Pascal  that  they  forgot  nothing  that  they  ever  thouglit 
or  read.  Leibnitz  and  Euler  could  each  repeat  the 
whole  of  the  ^Eueid. 

7.  We  have  seen  that  a  memory  may  become 
blurred  ;  we  must  add  that  recollection  may  falsify 
even  a  clear  record.  Many  habitually  exaggerate,  un- 
derstate or  even  distort  items  of  memory  presumably 
legible.  They  purpose  no  deception,  and  deceive  them- 
selves. This  is  a  form  of  mental  disease.  Other  defects 
of  this  faculty  are  clearly  kinds  of  brain  disease,  and  are 
very  curious.  Certain  things  it  may  be  impossible  to 
remember,  and  certain  others  impossible  to  forget.  A 
man  suffering  from  ajihasia  can  not  recall  a  particular 
letter,  and  always  drops  it  out ;  another,  brain  fevered 
by  remorse,  can  not  put  out  of  his  sight  the  imploring 
face  of  his  dying  victim.  The  rememberings  and  for- 
gettings  of  hypnotics  will  be  thought  of  in  this  con- 
nection. 

8.  It  is  as  important  to  learn  to  forget  as  to  learn 
to  remember.  The  vast  majority  of  the  sensations 
that  enter  the  mind  are  trivial,  vulgar,  perhaps  vile, 
and  had  best  sink  quickly  to  rise  no  more,  down  into 
the  abyss  of  the  subconscious.  When  Simonides  of- 
fered to  teach  Themistocles  the  art  of  memory,  he 
replied  that  he  would  rather  learn  to  forget,  "  for  I 
remember  even  that  which  I  do  not  wish  to  remember, 
but  can  not  forget  what  I  wish  to  forget." 

9.  The  accuracy  of  recollection  may  be  unequal  for 
different  classes  of  facts.    Thoughts  are  easily  recalled, 


182  .    THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

but  faces  and  names  forgotten,  and  so  on.  Some  re- 
member best  verbatim^  and  some  best  ad  sensum.  This 
is  explained  by  idiosyncrasies  of  brain  formation  and 
psychic  organization. 

10.  K  recollection  is  always  fainter  than  the  men- 
tal state  recalled.  Yon  glance  upon  a  new,  beautiful 
face,  and  it  is  seen  vividly  and  with  lingering  gaze  ; 
but  close  the  eyes,  let  all  after-images  fade,  and  now 
recall  it.  Alas,  what  a  shadow  of  that  glory  in  flesh 
and  blood  !  And  hence  on,  you  shall  find  the  image 
fade  until  you  may  no  longer  recall  it  and  only  certain 
things  about  it.  But  let  another  be  pointed  out  as  the 
very  face  in  memory,  and  at  once  recollection  rejects. 
It  may  not  be  able  to  show  Avhat  the  countenance  is,  but 
it  can  readily  say  what  it  is  not.  Manifestly  in  sub- 
consciousness there  is  a  more  correct  image  preserved, 
than  recollection  can  recall. 

11.  As  we  might  expect,  recollection  takes  much 
more  time  than  the  original  state,  if  that  have  been  a 
sensation,  as  this  has  not  only  to  be  revivified  but  first 
discovered  and  recognized.  In  other  words,  it  takes 
longer  to  find  a  specimen  'in  a  museum  than  to  place 
it  on  the  shelves. 


CHAPTEE  XXXVI. 

IMAGINATION. 


1.  Imagination  is  the  mind's  power  to  hold  up 
before  itself  for  study  the  mental  states  it  has  recalled. 

By  this  function  the  mind  idealizes  its  preceding 
states ;  while  we  perceive  by  sense  what  is  present,  we 
form  an  idea  of  what  is  absent. 


IMAGINATION.  183 

Yet  the  idea  is  not  so  much  a  picture  as  a  real 
revival  of  the  sensory  or  motor  elements  of  the  thing 
ideated.  It  is  not  a  sensation  nor  a  i^ercept,  but  still  a 
true  sense  form. 

Hence  was  it  we  found  imagination  so  important 
an  element  in  the  recollective  process. 

2.  These  ideas  or  sense  forms  are  distinguished 
from  sensations  by  less  intensity.  Only  in  cases  of 
hallucination  do  they  have  equal  or  greater  intensity. 
Gaze  at  a  friend  and  study  well  her  countenance ;  now 
close  your  eyes,  allow  the  after-images  to  fade,  and 
then,  still  with  eyes  closed,  visualize  her  face :  you 
will  at  once  learn  how  inferior  to  perception  is  the 
idea  or  sense  form.  The  English  painter  who  could 
call  up  images  of  his  sitters,  even  when  they  had  been 
before  him  for  only  half  an  hour,  so  that  he  could 
perfect  their  portraits  in  their  absence,  was  mentally 
unbalanced,  soon  lost  power  of  distinguishing  imag- 
inary from  real  persons,  and  spent  thirty  years  in  a 
madhouse.  Sense  forms  in  normal  minds  are  weaker 
than  sensations. 

3.  Ideas  or  sense  forms  originate  in  the  sensori- 
motor ganglia.  Destroy  these,  and  imagination  ceases 
as  certainly  as  sensation  and  perception.  Extirjiate 
the  optic  ganglia,  and  you  not  only  fail  to  see,  you  fail 
to  imagine  anything  as  seen ;  you  can  not  even  imag- 
ine darkness. 

Persons  of  unusual  facility  in  visualizing  may  by  in- 
tensely thinking  red  cause  a  complementary  green  on 
the  retina  of  the  closed  eye.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  a 
labial  with  the  lips  apart.  The  author,  in  recalling 
the  very  distressing  incident  of  seeing  one  of  his  sons 
sink  into  the  water  of  a  swimming  pool  beyond  his 


J  81  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

depth,  always  finds  himself  tending  to  draw  up  his 
own  body  just  as  he  saw  his  son  do  it;  he  remembers 
the  incident  not  only  in  visual,  but  also  in  motile  sense 
forms. 

This  fact  furnishes  a  method  of  classifying  imag- 
inations. They  are  visual,  audile,  tactual,  motile,  ac- 
cording to  the  kind  of  sense  forms  mostly  used.  Per- 
sons extraordinary  in  one  of  these  are  very  likely  to  be 
deficient  in  the  others. 

4.  Hence  the  realm  of  imagination  is  the  whole 
universe  of  the  created,  the  limited,  the  composite. 
It  does  not  and  can  not  include  the  Deity  which  is 
uncreated,  unlimited,  incomposite — the  sense  forms 
can  not  picture  God.  All  j^ictures  of  the  Deity  are 
anthropomorphic,  and  so  mere  approximations  and  dis- 
tortions. We  can  think  and  know  God,  but  not  by 
imaginative  processes. 

This  is  the  truth  in  modern  agnosticism.  The  very 
fact  that  agnostics  argue  about  an  Infinite  proves  that 
such  a  being  is  thinkable  and  tentatively  knowable. 
We  could  not  predicate  ignorance  of  something  which 
could  not  come  into  thought. 

5.  The  material  of  the  imagination  being  the  end- 
less variety  of  the  universe,  to  equip  a  mind  for  its  best 
ideation,  observation  must  be  lively  and  the  store  of 
knowledge  full.  An  ignorant  poet — an  Ossian  or 
Homeric  druid — may  have  an  intensity  of  ideas,  but 
these  are  simple,  few,  and  oft-repeated.  A  sublime 
spirit,  higli  as  heaven,  wide  as  the  horizons  and  deep 
as  ocean,  requires  as  a  feeder  the  keen  observation  of 
a  Shakespeare,  or  the  learning  of  a  Milton,  a  Cole- 
ridge, or  a  Goethe.  Well  said  a  French  wit,  "  The  soul 
of  the  poet  is  the  mirror  of  the  world." 


IMAGINATION.  185 

6.  Since  the  miud  can  construct  and  create  in 
sense  forms  as  well  as  restore,  we  usually  speak  of  the 
reproductive,  the  constructive  and  the  creative  imag- 
ination. 

The  reproductive  serves  recollection. 

The  constructive  rearranges,  readjusts,  divides  and 
joins  together. 

The  creative  discerns  the  as  yet  unthought. 

Or  we  may  classify  imagination  according  to  the 
method  of  its  processes,  and  declare  it  natural,  logical 
or  poetical.  In  the  first  case  it  follows  Nature's  order 
of  suggestion  and  association ;  in  the  second,  the  logi- 
cal sequence,  working  inductively  or  deductively ;  and 
in  the  third  it  aims  at  poetic  effect  by  appealing  to 
the  sense  of  the  beautiful. 

But  always  the  ideation  will  reproduce,  construct  or 
create,  the  selection  of  methods  of  proceeding  being 
largely  a  matter  of  disposition,  education,  etc. 

7.  Figures  of  speech  are  very  common  instances  of 
the  play  of  the  constructive  function.  "  Intelligence 
rarely  allows  itself  in  speech  without  metaphor ;  we 
seldom  declare  what  a  thiiig  is,  except  by  saying  it  is 
something  else."  (George  Eliot.)  As  when  Ulysses 
compared  Nausicaa  to  a  young  palm  tree  springing  up 
by  the  altar  of  Apollo,  as  when  Wieland  declared  that 
his  soul  was  as  full  of  Goethe  as  the  dewdrop  of  the 
morning  sun.  Names  of  things  are  almost  always 
imaginative,  as  when  the  Coreans  call  flame  the  fire 
flower,  and  say,  when  they  want  you  to  strike  a  light, 
"  Make  the  fire  flower  blossom."  The  ancient  Mexicans 
and  Peruvians  beheld  gorgeous  humming  birds  glitter- 
ing over  gay  flowers — motion  on  wings — symmetry  ra- 
diant—gems aflight — flashing  emerald,  ruby  and  sap- 

13 


186  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

phire  liglit,  and  they  called  them  names  meaning  "rays 
of  the  sun,"  and.  "  tissues  of  the  day-star,"  "  living  sun- 
shine," and  "  day-star  light,"  Language  is  full  of 
such  poetry.  Of  course  much  more  is  involved  here 
than  the  mere  conception  of  the  sense  form ;  but  it  is 
the  constructive  ideation  in  the  general  process,  which 
leaves  on  the  words  their  unfailing  phosphorescence. 

8,  Dreaming  is  the  play  of  constructive  imagina- 
tion, enhanced  in  its  exuberance  by  the  very  fact  of 
the  withdrawal  of  the  primary  control.  Ideas  become 
both  relatively  and  absolutely  more  intense  than  in 
waking  moments. 

Somnambulism,  natural  and  induced,  is  but  a 
dreaming  vivid  to  action,  in  which  imagination  is 
quickened  and  controlled  from  without. 

Hallucination  finds  this  constructive  function  its 
very  organ.  Eeverie  is  a  kind  of  self-induced  halluci- 
nation, in  which  we  dream  while  awake.  Ordinarily  it 
is  jDassive,  involuntary  in  its  play  of  fancy,  and  enfee- 
bling of  intelligence. 

The  constructive  imagination  of  the  brain  worker 
is  very  different  from  this  delicious  tvcmmerei.  Eev- 
erie is  a  train  of  fancies  following  the  line  of  least  re- 
sistance ;  literary  or  artistic  or  musical  composition 
seeks  lines  of  greatest  resistance,  and  is  work  involv- 
ing severest  mental  discipline  and  resulting  in  sub- 
stantial mental  products. 

So  it  goes, 

"  The  lunatic,  the  lover,  and  the  poet 
Are  of  imagination  all  compact. 

The  lover  frantic 
Sees  Helen's  beauty  in  a  brow  of  Egypt : 
The  poet's  eye,  in  a  fine  phrensy  rolling, 


IMAGINATION.  187 

Dotli  glance  from  heaven  to  earth,  from  eartli  to  heaven, 

And  in  imagination  bodies  forth 

The  forms  of  tilings  unknown  :  the  poet's  pen 

Turns  them  to  shapes  and  gives  to  airy  nothings 

A  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

9.  Imaginative  creation  is  not  true  of  the  human 
mind,  except  in  a  relative  way.  It  is  simply  the  cre- 
ation of  sense  forms  never  conceived  before,  and  de- 
pends not  so  much  upon  vivid  power  of  imagination  as 
upon  splendid  gifts  of  elaborative  genius.  Of  this 
genius  we  will  speak  in  another  connection. 

10.  The  intensity  of  ideas  depends  not  upon  the 
intensity  of  the  occasioning  or  original  sensations,  but 
npon  the  amount  of  feeling  originally  stirred  by  those 
sensations.  The  idea  bright  is  not  necessarily  more 
intense  than  the  idea  dark.  Those  ideas  are  vivid 
whose  accompanying  sensations  enlist  our  interests 
to  a  marked  degree ;  and  such  are  most  likely  to  recur 
in  recollection  and  in  construction. 

Intensity  may  reach  that  dangerous  pitch  where 
sense  forms  are  mistaken  for  things  perceived ;  then 
the  superstitious  see  ghosts  and  hear  mysterious  noises, 
cowards  start  at  their  own  shadows,  murderers  are 
haunted  by  visions  of  their  pale  victims. 

Pessimism  enlarges  evil  and  minimizes  good, 
while  optimism  enlarges  good  and  minimizes  evil. 
The  imagination  is  a  telescope  of  all  powers,  and  you 
may  use  either  end. 

Many  of  the  fond  delusions  of  mankind  concerning 
its  own  destiny  are  so  accounted  for.  The  dream  of  a 
golden  age — far  back  in  the  past — and  the  expectation 
of  a  golden  age  yet  to  come — far  forward  in  the  future 
— only  emphasize  the  innate  imaginativeness  of  that 


188         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

universal  humanity,  in  which  faith  never  dies,  in  which 
"  hope  springs  eternal."  "  He  who  has  imagination 
without  learning,  has  wings  without  feet."    (Joubert.) 


CHAPTER  XXXVIL 

THE    COMPARATIVE     PROCESSES — COXCEPTIOISr,    JUDG- 
MENT,   AND    REASONING. 

1.  We  combine  these  three  processes,  because  they 
all  give  exercise  to  the  one  psychic  power  of  com- 
parison. Conception  compares  ideas  to  form  con- 
cepts ;  judgment  compares  concepts  to  form  proposi- 
tions ;  reasoning  compares  judgments  to  reach  conclu- 
sions. The  difference  between  a  judgment  and  a  con- 
clusion has  been  thus  stated  :  "  A*  judgment  is  knowl- 
edge that  is  reached,  a  conclusion  knowledge  that 
becomes." 

2.  Conception.  The  mind  compares  ideas  of  a 
kind,  and  abstracting  qualities,  possessed  in  common  by 
all,  forms  a  general  notion  or  concept.  This  process 
seems  to  depend  upon  the  persistency  of  mental  states 
and  their  natural  affinity  for  one  another.  It  pertains 
to  the  grouping  function  of  consciousness.  Ideas  of  a 
kind  blend  together  and  become,  to  use  Romanes' 
figure,  a  sort  of  composite  photograph  in  which  in- 
frequent characteristics  fade  into  indistinctness  and 
common  features  alone  appear.  Thus  the  concept 
"  tree  "  is  the  result  of  long  observation  of  trees  and 
the  constant  occurrence  of  the  ideas  of  this  maple  and 
that  beech  and  yonder  pine.     A  composite  idea,  which 


THE  COMPARATIVE  PROCESSES.  189 

is  all  trees  in  general  and  none  in  particular — in  short, 
the  general  notion  "  tree  " — has  thus  arisen.  Psycho- 
logically speaking,  such  words  are  concepts;  in  com- 
mon parlance  they  are  terms. 

3.  To  concepts  may  be  attributed  quantity,  quality 
and  relation. 

In  quantity,  they  have  extension  (area,  Umfang) 
and  intension  (content,  Inlialt).  The  greater  their 
extension  so  much  more  numerous  the  individual 
notions  they  represent ;  the  greater  their  intension  the 
more  varied  their  qualities  and  restricted  their  range. 
"  Man  "  is  more  extensive  than  "  orator,"  because  ora- 
tors are  only  a  small  class  of  men ;  but  "  orator  "  is 
more  intensive  than  "  man,"  as  the  orators  have  all  the 
qualities  of  men  besides  those  of  their  own  class. 

In  quality  concepts  are  clear  or  obscure,  distinct 
and  iiidistinct.  They  are  clear  when  we  can  well 
discriminate  them  from  other  concepts.  They  are 
distinct  when  their  individual  parts  can  be  discrimi- 
nated one  from  another. 

In  their  relation  to  one  another  they  may  be 
classed  in  matter  of  extension  as  exclusive,  coexten- 
sive, subordinate,  co-ordinate,  or  intersecting;  and  in 
matter  of  intension  as  identical  or  different. 

4.  Judgment  compares  ideas,  perceives  a  relation, 
and  forms  a  proposition.  A  judgment  is  thus  the  ex- 
pression of  a  perceived  relation  ;  it,  too,  like  the  con- 
cept, has  quantity,  quality  and  relation. 

In  quantity,  judgments  are  universal — "  All  men 
are  mortal  " ;  or  particular — "  Some  men  are  virtu- 
ous " ;  or  individual — "  Cresar  was  a  conqueror." 

In  quality,  they  are  afiirmative  or  negative. 

In   relation,  they  are  categorical   or  conditional, 


190  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

and,  if  conditional,  then  hypothetical,  disjunctive,  or 
dilemmatic. 

5.  Eeasoning  is  simply  a  comparison  of  judgments, 
with  inference— as  Eomanes  defines  it,  "  the  faculty  of 
deducing  inferences  from  a  perceived  equivalence  of 
relations." 

For  the  various  methods  of  doing  this,  wisely  and 
unwisely,  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  manuals  on 
logic. 

G.  To  say  that  man  is  the  reasoning  animal  does 
not  properly  differentiate  him  from  the  brutes.  All 
vertebrates  form  judgments,  and  probably  they  com- 
bine them  into  reasoning  processes.  We  believe  that 
in  dogs,  pigs  and  horses  intelligence  attains  a  high 
degree  of  ratiocination.  Insects  also  are  quite  ration- 
al, the  ants  in  their  logic  seemingly  surpassing  many 
races  of  savages. 

7.  Inferences  which  are  complex  to  a  feeble  mind 
may  be  very  simple  to  one  larger  and  keener.  It  takes 
a  long  while  to  convince  a  savage,  used  to  counting  no 
more  than  five  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand,  that  six 
times  five  are  thirty.  A  civilized  child,  however,  per- 
ceives this  as  a  self-evident  truth,  and,  without  pro- 
cess of  calculation,  asserts  it  as  axiomatic — as  simple 
to  him  as  the  proposition  "  The  sky  is  blue." 

It  seems  likely,  then,  that  all  processes  of  inference 
are  but  the  crutches  of  a  halting  mentality.  And 
thus  reason,  instead  of  differentiating  man  from  the 
brute,  rather  shows  his  inferiority  to  possible  higher 
intelligences.  It  is  not  extravagance  to  surmise  that 
what  seems  to  us  obscure  conclusion  of  long  and  tedi- 
ous reasoning  may  oftentimes  be  of  a  simplicity  to 
appear  luminous  to  a  higher  grade  of  mind.     The  child 


TflE  COMPARATIVE  PROCESSES.  191 

spells  its  onc-sylkblo  word  letter  by  letter ;  the  scholar, 
however,  reads  by  sentences  and  by  paragraphs.  The 
savage  counts  five  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand;  a  Zerah 
Colburn  instantly  on  demand  gives  the  correct  results 
of  complicated  stupendous  mathematical  computa- 
tions. Just  so,  while  the  uncultivated  thinker  works 
out  his  conclusions  by  tedious  process  of  syllogism, 
genius  sees  the  result  at  the  beginning,  and  the  high- 
est processes  of  logic  to  the  man  of  to-day  are  but  the 
a  b  c  of  the  man  that  shall  be,  and  the  clearly  seen  ax- 
ioms of  mind  suprahuman. 

8.  Just  here  genius  asserts  its  superiority.  It  has 
been  very  generally  associated  with  the  creative  imagi- 
nation, as  without  a  high  degree  of  the  latter  its  mar- 
velous outbursts  would  be  clearly  impossible  ;  but  in 
essence  genius  is  an  extraordinary  assertion  of  judg- 
ment. It  sees  with  intensity  its  images,  but  much 
more  it  discerns  inferences  with  prevision.  Says  Rus- 
kin  :  "  Hundreds  of  men  can  talk  for  one  who  can 
think,  but  thousands  can  think  for  one  who  can  see. 
To  see  clearly  is  poetry,  prophecy  and  religion  all  in 
one."  Genius  looks  in  many  directions ;  it  may  be 
poetical,  literary,  musical,  artistic,  political,  military 
and  metaphysical.  It  has  been  noticed  of  valuable 
discoveries  that  they  are  so  simple,  and  we  wonder 
that  even  we  ourselves  did  not  perceive  the  obvious 
fact.  They  awaited  an  eye  that  could  penetrate  their 
secret.  Watt's  steam  engine,  which  seemed  an  intu- 
ition, was  only  the  inference  of  genius.  All  great  sci- 
entific discoveries  are  made  by  the  leaping  inference 
of  genius  before  the  actual  demonstration.  Columbus 
discovered  America  before  he  left  Palos ;  Leverrier 
saw  the  planet  Uranus  long  before  he  gazed  upon  it 


192         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

through  the  tube.  Napoleon  was  a  great  general,  be- 
cause he  could  readily  foresee  every  possible  combina- 
tion of  his  enemies,  and  every  possible  contingency ; 
the  batteries  of  his  unerring  judgment  won  the  battle 
ere  his  brazen  artillery  opened  fire.  Bismarck  and 
Gladstone  are  great  in  genius,  because  they  judge 
more  simply  and  more  accurately  than  other  men. 
Back  of  all  immortal  verse,  there  is  not  only  the 
beauty  of  art,  but  also  the  sublimity  of  lofty  infer- 
ence. 

The  creations  of  genius  may  seem  flashes  out  of 
absolute  darkness,  epochs  in  the  history  of  thought, 
but  in  reality  they  are  only  the  discoveries  by  great 
minds  of  facts  Nature  is  hiding.  The  poet,  painter, 
dramatist,  or  prophet  detects  in  the  ordinary  and  tran- 
sient its  elements  of  ideal  and  imperishable  beauty, 
truth,  or  goodness,  and  constructs  a  poem,  a  painting, 
a  theory,  an  invention,  a  parable  in  righteousness,  that 
needs  must  live  because  a  revelation  of  the  universe  to 
human  nature  or  of  human  nature  to  itself. 

9.  Genius  finds  its  response  in  minds  of  a  second 
grade  that  can  not  be  called  "  creative."  Geniuses 
are  few  and  far  between;  their  lives  are  a  "sublime 
storm";  they  are  isolated  like  lighthouses  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  lifted  up  like  snow-capped  mountain 
peaks  into  the  heavens  and  into  the  gales.  More  nu- 
merous are  those  lesser  natures  that  understand,  inter- 
pret, and  teach  the  world  to  adore  them.  Let  the 
Deity  give  to  whom  he  will  his  signet  ring,  but  let  no 
gentle  or  noble  nature  fail  to  aspire  to  this  second 
glory — to  understand,  to  interpret  and  to  defend. 

10.  "Wit  is  a  keen  play  of  the  comparative  processes 
discerning  apt  but  unusual  relations  and  contrasts  be- 


THE  COMPARATIVE  PROCESSES.  193 

tween  things.  Its  simplest  and  easiest  form  is  the  pun 
or  play  upon  the  varying  meaning  of  a  word,  which  may 
be  uttered  in  soberness  to  emphasize  a  truth,  or  in  mer- 
riment to  point  a  joke.  In  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  the 
use  is  serious,  as  when  Samson  punned  upon  the  jaw- 
bone in  his  song  of  triumph,  or  when  Jesus  compared 
the  Spirit  to  the  wind.  No  better  punning  of  the  sec- 
ond class  can  be  cited  than  that  of  Senator  Evarts, 
who,  when  Lord  Coleridge  demurred  at  the  old  story 
of  Washington  having  in  his  youth  thrown  a  dollar 
over  the  Rappahannock,  replied  :  "  But,  sir,  a  dollar 
would  go  farther  in  those  days  than  now  ;  and,  more- 
over, it  seems  less  improbable  that  he  threw  a  dollar 
across  a  river,  when  you  reflect  that  he  threw  a  sov- 
ereign across  the  sea  ! " 

Proverbs,  epigrams,  aphorisms,  and  all  short,  pithy 
sentences,  arc  but  witty,  humorous,  or  satirical  judg- 
ments. Alger  declares  aphorisms  "portable  wisdom, 
the  quintessential  extracts  of  thought  and  feeling." 
An  old  Latin  recipe  for  a  proverb  prescribes  that  it 
must  be  "  like  a  bee,  short  and  sweet,  and  with  a  sting 
in  its  tail." 

Wit  often  marks  great  minds,  and  generally  it 
accompanies  genius  ;  sometimes,  however,  its  keen 
incongruity  is  rather  an  evidence  of  oddity  or  mental 
unbalance — as  in  the  case  of  the  lunatic  who  said 
to  a  visitor  in  the  asylum,  "  Sir,  I  am  Alexander  the 
Great " ;  and  on  a  subsequent  occasion,  to  the  same 
gentleman,  "  Sir,  I  am  Napoleon  Bonaparte."  "  Oh  ! 
but,"  expostulated  the  visitor,  "the  last  time  I  was 
here  you  were  Alexander."  The  lunatic  mused  a  mo- 
ment, tapped  his  head  thoughtfully  and  responded, 
"  Did  I  ?     Well— that  was  by  my  first  wife  ! "     Or  as 


194         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

iu  the  case  of  that  Irishman  who,  when  accused  of 
cowardice  for  running  off  the  field  of  battle,  said, 
"  Share,  and  it  is  better  to  be  a  coward  for  five  min- 
utes, than  to  be  dead  intoirely  all  the  rest  of  me 
life  ! " 

It  has  been  claimed  that  wit  must  be  spontaneous, 
but  this  does  not  at  all  follow.  Professional  wits  find 
it  necessary  to  resort  to  premeditation.  Dean  Swift 
would  lie  abed  wide  awake,  mornings,  preparing  ex- 
tempore flashes  of  wit  for  the  day.  Washington  Irving 
would  swing  on  gates  on  sunny  mornings,  busied  in 
the  same  kind  of  industry. 

11.  Humor  adds  the  element  of  absurdity,  which 
is  as  truly  interwoven  into  the  very  fabric  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  into  the  Avarp  and  woof  of  history,  as  the 
beautiful,  the  sublime,  or  the  painful.  It  is  a  habit 
of  viewing  things  on  their  grotesque  side,  and  is  sep- 
arated from  contempt  by  a  certain  element  of  sym- 
pathy. It  dwells  upon  the  whimsical  and  fanciful  in 
life  and  character.  While  wit  does  not  by  any  means 
always  cause  laughter,  humor  never  fails  to  provoke, 
if  not  laughter  outright,  at  least  a  smile.  The  infinite 
humorsomeness  of  Sheridan  appeared  when,  the  night 
his  theatre  burned  to  the  ground,  he  quietly  seated 
himself  in  a  public  house  near  by  and  in  sight  of  the 
flames  sipped  wine  calmly.  Expostulated  with  by 
friends  for  this  astounding  indiflierence  to  the  wreck 
of  his  fortunes,  he  calmly  replied,  "  Surely  a  man  may 
be  permitted  to  drink  a  glass  of  wine  at  his  own  fire- 
side ! " 

12.  Satire  is  judgment  reflecting  the  irony  of  fate, 
the  inconsistent  in  character  and  pitiful  in  destiny 
forming  its  subject ;  for  mockery  seems  omnipresent 


THE  COMPARATIVE  PROCESSES.  195 

ill  Nature  and  in  history,  and  the  satirist  only  echoes 
the  bitter  laugh  of  a  somewhat  in  the  universe 
itself. 

The  Turks  say,  "  Cross  the  sea  and  drown  in  a 
brook."  The  Chinese  assert  that  "  Order  the  coflHn 
and  the  man  won't  die."  And  ihe  Spaniards  reflect 
that  "  The  worm  has  ever  a  poor  case  when  the  chick- 
en is  judge."  A  Saul  falling  on  his  own  sword  in 
Mount  Gilboa  just  as  Israel  is  about  to  obtain  glory,  a 
David  fleeing  from  his  own  son  Absalom,  a  Marius 
amid  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  a  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena, 
a  Christ  crowned  with  thorns  and  enthroned  upon  a 
cross — in  such  themes  does  satire  delight. 

13.  Comparison  is  also  the  faculty  of  classification, 
which  is  only  an  enlargement  of  the  process  of  con- 
ception. Discerning  likenesses  between  things,  which 
therefore  seem  allied,  we  group  them  together  in  a 
class  and  name  them  with  a  word.  Discerning  like- 
nesses between  these  classes,  which  therefore  seem 
allied,  we  again  group  these  together  in  a  higher  or 
more  comprehensive  division,  and  name  this  with  a 
word.  So  we  proceed,  our  describing  name  ever  be- 
coming more  extensive  and  less  intensive.  Men, 
women  and  children — black,  red,  brown,  and  white 
— become  "  man  "  ;  then  man,  monkey,  ape,  etc.,  be- 
come the  simian  ;  then  the  simian,  the  ruminant,  the 
carnivore,  etc.,  become  the  mammal ;  then  the  mam- 
mal, the  reptile,  etc.,  become  the  vertebrate ;  then  the 
vertebrate,  the  mollusk,  the  annulose,  etc.,  become  the 
animal.  The  individual  notions,  Tom,  Dick,  and 
Harry,  cover  little  ground  but  many  qualities.  The 
common  notions,  man,  monkey,  ape,  etc.,  lose  depth 
but  gain  in  amplitude.     Classification,  as  it  proceeds, 


196         THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

spreads  out  the  notion  until  it  becomes  quite  diapha- 
nous. 

This  is  the  method  the  mind  pursues  to  enable  it 
to  grasp  a  multitude  of  objects ;  it  dilfers  from  mere 
enumeration,  in  that  the  latter  simply  grasps  at  num- 
bers. We  comprehend  numbers  in  groups,  ten  units 
one  ten,  ten  tens  one  hundred,  etc. ;  but  the  groups 
indicate  nothing  more  than  collective  enumeration. 
Classification,  pursuiug  the  same  methods,  uses  a  de- 
scriptive nomenclature  and  groups  on  system. 

Asfain  we  are  reminded  of  the  limitations  of  our 
knowledge.  As  mind  must  reason  step  by  step,  so  it 
must  hold  and  master  its  knowledge  group  by  group. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  libraries,  with  alcoves  and  cata- 
logues ;  of  museums,  with  rooms,  cases  and  descriptive 
labels ;  and,  in  the  mind  itself,  of  pigeon-holes  and  a 
mental  index.  We  may  call  classification  the  method 
of  learning — the  system  of  knowledge. 

14.  A  word  on  the  communication  of  judgments. 
Had  men  been  created,  or  indefinitely  continued  to  be, 
solitary  individuals,  mating  only  for  a  season,  as  do 
most  animals,  a  hundred  times  the  period  of  human 
evolution  would  not  have  sufficed  to  impart  civilization. 
Man  needed  not  only  the  heritage  of  ancestral  judg- 
ment, but  the  assistance  of  social  common  sense.  As 
a  social  being  he  learns  to  express  judgments  readily, 
and  in  the  interchange  "  mind  sharpeneth  mind." 

It  is  significant  in  this  connection  that  social  ani- 
mals have  at  least  rude  methods  of  exchanging  judg- 
ments, and  their  progress  toward  civilization  is  always 
in  exact  ratio  to  their  powers  of  expression.  Ants  have 
a  ready  (though  unknown  to  us)  method  of  thought- 
transference,  and  hence  a  high  degree  of  civilization; 


THE  COMPARATIVE   PROCESSES.  l'J7 

and  cveu  buffaloes,  wolves  and  marmots  understand 
each  other. 

T.  W.  Cowan,  a  close  and  accurate  observer  of  bees, 
declares  that  the  voice  organs  of  his  pets  are  three- 
fold— the  vibrating  wings,  the  vibrating  rings  of  the 
abdomen,  and  a  true  vocal  apparatus  in  the  breathing 
aperture  of  the  spiracle,  the  first  two  producing  the 
buzz,  and  the  last  the  hum.  He  believes  that  he 
has  truly  interpreted  the  various  significant  sounds. 
Hum-m-m  is  the  cry  of  astonishment.  Wuh-wuh-wuh 
glorifies  the  incessant  accouchements  of  the  queen. 
Shu-u-u  is  the  frolic  note  of  young  bees  at  play. 
S-s-s-s  means  the  muster  of  a  swarm.  B-r-r-r  is  the 
appropriate  call  in  slaughter  or  expulsion  of  the 
drones.  The  tu-tu-tu-  of  the  newly  hatched  queens 
is  answered  by  the  qua-qua-qua  of  the  queens  slill 
imprisoned  in  their  cells. 

Similar  discoveries,  with  help  of  the  phonograph 
are  claimed  on  behalf  of  the  monkeys  by  Gamier, 
and  the  facts  proved  certainly  deserve  closest  at- 
tention. 

15.  The  history  of  expression  began  with  the  glance, 
the  growl,  the  purr,  the  wagging  of  the  tail,  the  ges- 
ture. Later  came  facial  movement,  chiefly  teeth-gnash- 
ing, knitting  of  the  brow  and  grimaces.  In  man,  this 
speech  of  bodily  signs  attains  its  greatest  perfection  in 
the  infinite  variety  of  eye-glances,  of  feature-move- 
ments, ingenious  shruggings  and  significant  gestures. 
All  sign  language  can  be  grouped  conveniently  under 
three  principles : 

(1)  Of  altered  innervation,  as  when  strong  emo- 
tions react  upon  central  organs  so  as  to  cause  trem- 
blings, blushings,  erections  of  hair,  etc. 


108  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

(2)  Of  analogous  sensations,  as  when  we  express 
disgust  by  posturing  the  mouth  and  face. 

(3)  Of  significant  motions,  as  when  we  wrinkle  the 
forehead  to  suggest  a  wrinkle  in  the  mind,  or  point 
heavenward  to  bring  to  mind  an  overruling  Provi- 
dence (Wundt). 

16.  Verbal  language  is  the  flowering  of  expression  ; 
and  once  invented  it  becomes  the  prime  cause  and  the 
most  accurate  measure  of  human  evolution.  "  A  lan- 
guage is  to  be  considered  the  collective  brain  of  a  na- 
tion :  the  vocabulary  shows  the  richness  of  its  ideas, 
the  syntax  how  it  works  them." 

In  its  beginnings  verbal  language  is  strongly  phys- 
ical, like  sign  language ;  for  men  learn  to  speak  long 
before  the  age  of  self-study.  "-All  roots  are  expressive 
of  sensuous  impressions  only ;  and  all  words,  even  the 
most  abstract  and  sublime,  are'  derived  from  roots  " 
(Miiller).  These  roots  indicating  activities  became 
subject,  verb  and  object  by  variations  in  sound  or  dia- 
critical additions.  As  thought  gained  in  powers  of 
discrimination,  adjectives  and  adverbs  were  introduced 
to  name  perceived  qualities,  and  to  indicate  the  how, 
Avheu  and  where.  Prepositions  came  to  express  rela- 
tions now  more  and  more  manifest.  Finally,  conjunc- 
tions indicated  the  working  into  language  of  the  laws 
of  thought.  Elaborate  syntax  and  affectation  of  style 
must  have  been,  in  all  cases,  the  result  of  high  civili- 
zation. 

Hence,  to  study  the  language  of  a  people,  from  its 
rude  beginnings,  is  to  unearth  their  history,  their  cus- 
toms, their  social,  political  and  mental  growth.  The 
comparative  study  of  the  Aryan  languages  has  given 
scholars  a  very  fair  acquaintance  with  the  conditions 


THE  COMPARATIVE  PROCESSES.  109 

of  an  ancient  people,  whose  story  was  long  since  lost, 
even  to  tradition.  A  close  scrutiny  of  the  word-forms 
and  syntax  of  any  race  will  restore  their  logical  pro- 
cesses and  rhetorical  conceptions.  Indeed,  the  history 
of  philosophy  will  never  rest  content  with  records  and 
legends ;  it  will  go  far  back  of  all  remains  to  the  reve- 
lation of  word  derivations  and  linguistic  forms  in 
primitive  languages. 

Hence,  in  general,  the  great  value  of  linguistic 
studies.  They  teach  one  not  so  much  to  speak  as 
to  think.  Our  own  processes  of  Judgment  are  thus 
multiplied,  varied  and  corrected,  by  comparison  with 
the  mental  processes  of  other  peoples  and  ages ;  while 
tlie  comparison  itself,  with  its  necessary  research  and 
nice  balancing  of  many  considerations,  is  a  discipline 
in  both  analytic  and  synthetic  thinking  of  supreme 
value. 

17.  The  expression  of  thought  assists  the  forma- 
tion of  tliought :  so  that  some  thinkers  have  boldly 
claimed  that  there  is  and  can  be  no  thought  without 
language,  and  no  growth  of  thought  without  expres- 
sion—notably Max  Miiller.  Ribot  goes  so  far  as  to 
assert  that  thought  is  a  word  or  an  act  in  a  nascent 
state.  However  this  may  be,  if  you  would  disentangle 
a  confused  mass  of  reasonings,  put  them  down  in  syllo- 
gisms. If  you  would  think  clearly  on  any  subject, 
talk  it  over  and  force  yourself  to  write  out  your 
thoughts.  The  labor  of  expression  will  be  found  an 
effort  of  the  mind  to  analyze  and  arrange  its  own  pro- 
cesses. Painstaking  composition  greatly  expands  and 
simplifies  intellectual  operations. 

18.  We  have  found  all  the  other  psychic  powers 
imperfect  in  working ;  the  comparative  processes  are 


200  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

no  exception  in  this  regard.  They  may  work  delusive- 
ly, under  sway  of  prejudice,  superstition,  skepticism, 
etc.,  and  inferences  as  well  as  judgments  may  be  ill- 
formed,  unbased  in  logical  verity,  and  if  not  whole  lies 
at  least  only  half  truths.  The  history  of  fallacies,  in 
simple  and  compound  judgments,  would  be  almost  the 
whole  story  of  human  fraud,  delusion,  folly,  prejudice, 
superstition  and  cruelty. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

FORMAL   THOUGHT. 

1.  Knowledge  is  of  two  kinds,  empirical  and 
formal.  The  former  is  special,  incidental,  phenome- 
nal ;  the  latter  is  universal  and  necessary. 

Formal  knowledge  comprises  the  laws  of  thought, 
feeling,  and  volition,  or,  in  other  words,  the  limita- 
tions and  inner  necessities  of  psychosis. 

The  Greeks  named  this  mental  realm  the  vovs;  by 
the  Germans  it  is  styled  the  Pure  Eeason ;  while  to 
the  Scotch  metaphysicians  it  has  been  the  Regulative 
Faculty. 

2.  The  limitations  and  necessities  alluded  to  are 
purely  subjective.  Psychic  action  presupposes  them. 
No  amount  of  joerception  or  length  of  experience 
could  supply  them,  even  by  heritage.  They  are  not 
necessary  because  the  mind  so  regards  them  ;  but  the 
mind  so  regards  them  because  they  are  necessary. 

3.  The  senses  supply  the  material,  the  reason  sup- 
plies the  form  of  thought.  Without  the  senses  and 
the  sense  habitudes,  mind  would   be  utterly  vacant; 


FORMAL   THOUGHT.  201 

without   reason,  mind  would  be  mere  chaos.     First, 
wlien  reason  regulates  sense,  have  we  cosmos. 

4.  Formal  thouglit  is  the  last  object  of  contempla- 
tion in  self-study.  Animals,  savages  and  children  of 
this  think  never.  Such  thinking  as  they  do,  of  course, 
conforms  to  the  laws  of  mind,  but  they  do  not  reflect 
upon  this  fact,  nor  classify  nor  even  recognize  these 
principles.  Hence,  though  these  ultimate  data  are 
necessary — semjjer,  ubique  et  ah  omnibus — yet  are  they 
by  no  means  ever,  everywhere  and  by  all  perceived. 

Descartes  argued  thus,  human  existence :  cogilo 
ergo  sum^  "  I  think,  therefore  I  am  "  ;  and  it  is  true 
that  thinking  is  the  best  logical  condition  of  faith  in 
one's  own  being.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  man 
says  su?n — "  I  am  " — before  he  declares  cogito — "  I 
think  " ;  and  it  is  last  of  all  he  asks  himself  how  and 
why  he  thinks.  The  study  of  the  inner  limitations 
and  necessities  of  psychosis  is  the  last  and  the  highest 
and  most  difficult  effort  of  the  mind. 

5.  There  are  three  ultimate  forms  of  conscious- 
ness— knowing,  feeling  and  willing.  Attempts  have 
been  made  to  reduce  these  seeming  ultimates  to  unity 
but  in  vain ;  the  result  has  proved  supersubtle,  im- 
probable and  utterly  ban'en. 

6.  Each  of  this  trinity  in  action  runs  for  its  own 
goal. 

Knowledge  compels  us  to  the  true  or  the  false. 

Feeling  has  in  further  view  the  beautiful  and  the 
foul. 

Willing  ever  involves  some  aim  of  good  or  bad. 

The  true,  the  beautiful  and  the  good  are  as  ulti- 
mate seemingly  as  knowing,  feeling  and  willing. 
Here  again  efforts  have  been  made  to  secure  unity, 
14 


202  THE  rsYcnic  factor. 

but  only  by  a  sort  of  metaphysical  violence  which  is 
as  unjustifiable  as  it  is  valueless. 

7.  Embracing  all  knowing,  feeling  and  willing  are 
the  two  ultimates,  Time  and  Space.  Here  again  at- 
tempts have  been  made  at  derivation.  Thus  Wundt 
claims  that  space  is  a  synthesis  of  local  signs  and 
movement.  Duration  and  extension  you  may  define 
and  analyze,  but  not  time  and  space.  If  you  had  not 
these  ideas  already  in  stock,  you  could  not  by  any 
amount  of  experience  evolve  them ;  indeed,  did  they 
fail,  you  would  do  no  thinking  at  all.  What  has 
been  shown  has  been  not  the  genesis  of  the  formal 
thought,  but  only  its  slow  dawning  upon  human  con- 
sciousness as  thought. 

8.  The  laws  of  thought  as  thought — that  is,  the 
laws  of  logic — are  also  regulative  functions  of  the 
mind.  They  could  not  have  been  evolved,  for  they  are 
presupposed  in  thought  itself. 

(1)  Of  identity.     A  =  A. 

(2)  Of  contradiction.  Of  two  contradictories 
only  one  can  be  true.     A  —  A  =  0. 

(3)  Of  excluded  middle  ;  which  compels  us,  of 
two  contradictories  that  can  not  both  exist,  to  think 
of  the  one  or  of  the  other  as  existing,  A  either  is  or 
is  not, 

(4)  Of  reason  and  consequent,  or  there  is  reason 
for  every  inference,  A  is,  because.  This  is  the  law 
of  logical  cause  and  effect,  and  at  least  analogous  to 
the  physical  law  of  the  same  title. 

9.  That  particular  things  are  or  are  not  beautiful, 
formal  thought  does  not  inform  us;  for  what  is  pleasant 
to  one  may  be  disagreeable  to  another,  and  what  is  foul 
to  this  man  mav  seem  fair  to  that;  but  that  the  beau- 


FORMAL  THOUGHT.  203 

tiful  is  beautiful  and  that  the  foul  is  foul  is  regulative 
necessity.  The  laws  of  taste  and  sentiment,  though 
as  yet  feebly  discerned,  are  at  least  emerging  into  con- 
scious importance,  and  beyond  reasonable  question  are 
not  conventional,  but  as-  inevitable  and  imperative  as 
the  laws  of  logic. 

AVundt  claims  that  beauty  may  be  reduced  to  the 
idea  of  order.  The  beautiful  is  the  orderly.  Like- 
wise the  moral  is  simply  that  which  is  useful,  and  re- 
ligious sense  is  a  mere  process  of  reasoning  or  analogy. 
All  such  vain  efforts  .mistake  the  history  of  the  dawn- 
ing of  sentiment,  morality  and  religion  upon  the 
human  mind  in  savagery,  for  the  basic  principles  of 
sentiment,  morality  and  religion  themselves. 

10.  The  laws  of  volition  are  likewise  ultimate  and 
in  the  very  nature  of  choice. 

That  man  is  free  to  choose  (in  narrow  limits),  and 
that  responsibility  accompanies  such  choice,  in  right 
doing  and  in  wrong  doing,  is  clearly  basic  fact,  form- 
ing a  "  moral  consciousness,"  a  realm  of  conscience. 

11.  As  the  mind  progresses  in  self -study,  it  is 
clearly  seen  that  three  ontological  facts  loom  up  in  the 
background  of  all  thinking — being,  infinity,  eternity ; 
and  these  three  coalesce  in  a  consciousness  of  Deity. 
All  highest  philosophy  faces  this  sublimity,  and  though 
in  crass  «,nd  ignorant  minds  it  be  latent,  the  truth 
even  here  asserts  itself  in  a  yearning  toward  the  in- 
finite and  in  a  universal  religiousness.  For  this  Being 
is  not  living  matter,  and  this  Infinity  is  not  indefinite 
extension,  and  this  Eternal  is  not  endless  duration. 
Living  matter  is  limited,  being  is  absolute.  Indefinite 
extension  is  made  up  of  parts,  endless  duration  is 
composed  of  successive  moments.     Eternity  is  incom- 


204  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

posite,  outside  of  past,  present,  and  future,  a  unit. 
Infinity  is  not  composed  of  spaces  and  distances,  but 
undivided  and  indivisible,  an  absolute  Unity. 

You  can  not  prove  the  existence  of  a  Deity  by 
any  reasoning  process,  for  there  may  be  nothing  in  a 
logical  conclusion,  which  was  not  in  the  premises ;  and 
if  God  be  in  your  premises,  you  have  begged  the  ques- 
tion. If  he  be  not  in  your  premises,  he  will  not  be 
logically  found  in  your  conclusion. 

Man  is  the  only  animal  who  has  attained  sufficient 
psychic  expansion  for  this  recognition  of  the  Divine ; 
and  of  men,  only  few  have  risen  into  clear  discern- 
ment of  the  Absolute ;  though  probably  none  are  so 
low  as  not  to  respond  to  some  influence  of  this 
presence. 

12.  There  are  certain  objective  necessities,  learned 
by  experience,  that  have  come  to  sway  thought  in  a 
formal  way,  much  as  if  originally  subjective.  Thus 
the  distinctions  of  matter,  life  and  mind  ;  also  mathe- 
matical and  physical  laws,  which  at  first  observed  ac- 
quire the  force  of  postulates.  "  Two  and  two  make 
four."  "  Two  particles  of  matter  can  not  occupy  the 
same  space  at  the  same  time,"  etc. 

In  this  class  of  intuitions  probably  belong  personal 
identity  and  personal  unity.  That  I  am  myself  at  all 
times  and  in  all  places,  and  that  I  am  one  person — 
these  seemingly  necessary  postulates  are  no  doubt  re- 
sults of  long  human  experience  and  reflection — facts 
discovered  by  the  race,  but  born  as  necessary  forms  of 
thought  in  the  individual. 


REVIEW.  205 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

REVIEW. 

1.  Strictly  speaking,  there  are  no  faculties,  and 
only  the  mind  in  differing  phases  of  psychic  action. 
What  we  name  such  are  simply  constitutional  modes 
of  mental  behavior. 

2.  Every  mental  act  or  state  is  complicated  with 
other  mental  acts  or  states.  We  analyze  psychic  phe- 
nomena and  describe  the  simple  elements,  but  the 
phenomena  themselves  are  never  simple. 

3.  Notwithstanding  this  complexity,  the  search- 
light of  consciousness  can  not  play  upon  many  groups 
of  phenomena  at  once.  If  any  but  confused  thinking 
is  to  be  done,  attention  must  be  directed  to  one  group- 
ing, and  abstraction  for  the  time  from  all  others  en- 
forced. The  success  of  Hegel  is  in  part  explained  by 
the  fact  that  he  took  a  manuscript  to  his  publisher  in 
Jena  on  the  very  day  when  the  battle  of  that  name 
was  fought,  and  to  his  amazement — for  he  had  heard 
or  seen  nothing — he  found  French  veterans,  the  vic- 
torious soldiers  of  Napoleon,  in  the  streets.  Mo- 
hammed falling  into  lone  trances  on  the  mountains 
above  Mecca,  Paul  in  Arabia,  Dante  in  the  woods  of 
Fonte  Avellana,  and  Bunyan  in  prison,  form  eloquent 
illustrations  of  the  necessity  of  mental  seclusion  and 
concentration  in  order  to  arrive  at  great  mental  re- 
sults. 

4.  The  relative  vividness  of  mental  states  has 
much  to  do  with  defining  their  locus.  Perceptions 
are  in  general  more  vivid  than  memories,  and  both  in 


206  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

general  much  more  vivid  than  concepts.     Ordinarily 
attention  will  prevent  hallucination. 

5.  Psychic  acts  or  states  often  perish  stillborn  or 
later  in  infancy,  or  still  later  in  childhood  or  youth. 
Many  impressions  on  end  organs  do  not  stimulate  them 
sufficiently  to  secure  a  message  to  the  brain ;  hence 
no  resulting  sensations.  And,  then,  many  sensations 
are  not  vivid  enough  even  to  enter  the  subconscious- 
ness ;  hence  no  resulting  perceptions.  Many  percep- 
tions are  too  faint  to  link  themselves  to  common  trains 
of  thought;  hence,  pushed  aside,  they  are  unused  by 
imagination  or  comparison.  Many  ideas  are  not  in- 
tense enough  to  attract  attention ;  hence  no  judgment 
based  on  them.  Many  judgments  are  exceedingly 
feeble  or  inaccurate ;  hence  no  inferences. 

6.  How  can  even  the  most  cautious  thinker  assure 
himself  of  accurate  acquaintance  with  his  surround- 
ings in  view  of  the  proved  imperfection  of  all  our  men- 
tal apparatus  ?  He  can  not !  All  sciences  have  to  be 
regularly  readjusted  every  few  years.  We  are  none 
adepts,  and  all  novices.  As  Socrates  said  in  Phasdo, 
"  Many  are  the  wand -bearers  and  few  are  the  mys- 
tics." 

7.  While  there  is  an  evolutionary  history  of  the 
cognitive  powers,  there  is  no  evolution  of  the  powers 
themselves.  They  all  seem  at  least  nascent  in  the  early 
forms  of  life.  The  gradual  development  of  the  facul- 
ties connects  itself  with  the  history  of  the  growth  of 
the  end  organs  and  of  the  central  nerve  masses,  and 
with  the  fact,  never  to  be  forgotten,  of  the  withdrawal 
of  consciousness  from  lower  to  higher  nerve  ganglia. 

8.  The  evolution  of  a  psychic  function  ought  to 
cast  no  doubt  upon  the  knowledge  it  has  in  time  com- 


REVIEW.  207 

muiiicated.  Seven  imd  six  make  thirteen,  even  if  it  be 
proved  that  our  ancestors,  like  many  savages  of  to-day, 
could  not  count  more  than  five  on  the  fingers  of  one 
hand.  The  small  beginnings  of  science,  art,  ethics  and 
religion  do  not  in  the  least  discredit  the  true,  the  beau- 
tiful and  the  good.  Psychic  evolution  has  been  a  find- 
ing out.  The  Parthenon  is  no  less  beautiful  as  a  tem- 
ple, nor  the  Principia  profound  as  a  book,  nor  the 
death  of  Joan  of  Arc  sublime  as  heroism,  because  the 
ancestors  of  architect,  matliematician  and  enthusiast 
were  clothed  in  skins,  and  ate  raw  flesh,  living  in  holes, 
counting  fingers,  and  burying  alive  their  aged  parents. 
Plato  was  once  an  unconscious  babe ;  but  he  had  be- 
come a  man  of  sublime  intelligence  when  he  wrote 
the  Pha^drus  and  Symposium.  Shakespeare  was  once 
an  infinitesimal  droplet  of  jirotoplasm,  but  he  came  to 
be  the  supreme  genius  of  literature.  Just  so  the  hu- 
man race  had  its  babyhood,  and  knowledge  confesses 
to  a  slow  development,  but  the  resulting  wisdom  is  not 
therefore  vain. 


SECTION  III. 
THE  FEELINGS  AND   THE  WILL. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

THE    FEELINGS, 

1.  Feeling  is  a  primary  mode  of  psychic  activity, 
and,  being  ultimate,  admits  of  no  definition,  and  much 
less  of  analysis.  Feeling  is  to  feel !  It  is  not  to  be 
confused  with  sensation,  which,  though  usually  toned 
by  the  pleasurable  and  the  painful,  is  in  itself  entirely 
intellectual. 

2.  Feeling  has  had  its  evolutionary  history.  It  ap- 
pears simply  in  the  lowest  forms,  and  becomes  compli- 
cated in  the  higher  only  with  multiplication  of  nerve 
masses  and  general  psychic  development.  As  knowing 
begins  in  naked  protoplasm,  a  mere  sensitiveness  to  ex- 
citation from  without,  and  willing  in  a  mere  self-con- 
tractility, so  feeling  commences  in  protoplasmic  experi- 
ence of  pleasure  and  pain.  The  infusoria?  seem  to  suffer 
and  to  enjoy,  to  love  and  to  hate,  to  hunger  and  to  be 
angry.  Insects  prefer  the  beautiful,  and  birds  appre- 
ciate fine  music  and  gay  plumage.  Love  of  young  and 
of  mate  is  strong  even  among  very  humble  creatures. 
Sense  of  right  and  wrong,  vanity,  pride,  self-righteous- 


THE  FEELINGS.  209 

ness,  hypocrisy  and  remorse  are  common  among  mam- 
mals. 

3.  Feelings  are  characterized  by  tone,  strength, 
rhythm  and  content.  These  will  be  considered  in 
order,  in  the  following  sections. 

4.  By  tone  we  mean  pleasurableness  or  painful- 
ness ;  that  is,  the  mind  is  never  in  a  condition  of  in- 
difference emotionally  toward  any  of  its  mental  states, 
and  its  emotional  interest  always  involves  more  or  less 
of  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction.  AVhy  this  is  so  we 
can  not  say ;  it  is  an  ultimate  fact. 

(1)  The  zero  point  between  pleasure  and  pain  is 
variable  with  time  and  clime,  with  individuality,  and 
Avith  bodily  and  mental  condition.  A  Joy  for  one 
is  a  pain  for  another,  a  pleasure  to-day  will  be  sor- 
row to-morrow,  a  sport  in  winter  may  be  torture  in 
summer. 

(2)  Tone  depends  upon  the  relative  intensity  and 
upon  the  quality  of  the  mental  states  in  question.  Ex- 
periences ordinarily  delightful,  if  too  intense,  give  rise 
to  pain. 

(3)  The  conditioning  quality  depends  upon  a 
variety  of  laws.  Pleasure  may  result  from  the  gratify- 
ing of  a  mere  physical  craving,  as  of  hunger ;  or  it  may 
indicate  harmony  with  esthetic  or  moral  impulses. 
Emotional  quality  may  be  high  or  low,  good  or  bad, 
and  can  be  understood  in  its  workings  only  when  we 
can  trace  it  out  with  help  of  close  study  of  past  his- 
tory, individuality  and  environment. 

5.  Feelings  themselves  are  characterized  by  relative 
intensity,  which  is  conditioned  by  the  vigor  of  excit- 
ing causes,  the  general  vitality,  the  current  healthful- 
uess,  etc. 


210  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

6.  Feelings  are  said  to  be  rhythmic,  because  subject 
to  periodicity.  They  rise  and  fall  with  the  rhythmic 
movement  of  the  nerve  cells  they  use.  As  feeling 
makes  severer  demands  upon  the  nerve  reservoirs  than 
cognition,  exhaustion  follows  more  quickly :  an  explo- 
sion is  speedily  succeeded  by  depression.  Eapid  and 
high  elevation  above  the  zero  point  is  followed  by 
rhythmic  fall  below  that  point.  Children  who  laugh 
before  breakfast  cry  before  night.  An  ecstasy  of  joy 
reverts  into  a  nausea  of  satiety  or  an  agony  of  melan- 
choly. The  feelings  of  tropical  people  are  violent,  be- 
cause, usually  leading  a  sluggish  life,  their  batteries  of 
nerve  force  become  heavily  charged,  and  so  capable  of 
tremendous  explosion. 

This  rhythmic  peculiarity  of  feeling  explains  the 
superficiality  of  overemotional  natures.  Reaction 
follows  soon.  When  the  three  comforters  came  to 
Job  to  convince  him  that  it  served  him  right  to  suffer 
woe,  Bildad,  the  fiercest,  was  the  soonest  silenced. 

Explosions  often  relieve  nervous  tension  caused  by 
pent-up  force,  uneasy  to  be  released.  To  weep  pro- 
fusely relieves  sorrow ;  to  grumble  solaces  discontent ; 
to  slam  a  door  gives  vent  to  wrath ;  to  pray  helps  the 
penitent  to  peace ;  to  sing  and  leap  and  laugh  afford 
relief  to  overjoy. 

Herbert  Spencer  has  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  expressions  of  emotion  by  dancing,  poetry,  or  mu- 
sic always  have  assumed  a  rhythmical  character. 

7.  The  content  of  feeling  is  as  hard  to  classify  as 
the  mind's  treasury  of  thoughts.  The  variety  of  feel- 
ings is  as  endless  as  of  thinking.  Various  classifica- 
tions have  been  attempted,  but  with  questionable  suc- 
cess ;  about  the  best  we  can  do  is  to  describe  them  as 


THE  FEELINGS.  211 

sensuous,  gesthetic,  intellectual,  or  moral.  The  divid- 
ing lines,  however,  are  indistinct,  and  many  feelings 
can  be  named  that  belong  to  two  or  more  of  these 
classes.  Thus  the  emotion  excited  by  a  delicious 
strain  of  music  may  be  intellectual,  ought  to  be 
aesthetic  and  surely  is  sensuous. 

8.  Neither  the  tone,  strength,  rhythm  nor  content 
of  any  given  feeling  on  any  given  occasion  is  absolute, 
but  conditioned  on  circumstances,  individuality,  tem- 
perament and  point  of  view. 

9.  Feelings  may  be  conscious  or  subconscious,  au- 
tomatic, reflex,  or  voluntary.  In  other  words,  they  in- 
terpenetrate all  psychic  activities,  at  all  times  and 
under  all  conditions.  Waking  and  sleeping,  in  higher 
and  lower  nerve  centers,  and  in  every  kind  of  nerve 
utterance  we  feel. 

10.  Feelings  furnish  coloring  and  tone  for  intel- 
lection. Even  if  the  content  of  a  thought  be  pure- 
ly intellectual — and  it  seldom  is — the  motives  and 
aims  are  sure  not  to  be  so.  Sensuousness,  prejudice, 
and  aesthetic  and  moral  considerations  interpenetrate 
everywhere ;  hence  the  danger  of  inaccuracy  in  the 
working  of  all  the  cognitive  powers.  Facts  are  dis- 
torted and  judgments  shaded  and  arguments  vitiated 
by  feeling.  And  then,  on  the  contrary,  the  pursuit  of 
truth  is  stimulated,  fraud  is  abhorred,  lies  avoided,  and 
facts  asserted  courageously,  because  of  feeling.  It 
curses  and  it  blesses. 

On  the  whole,  feeling  is  as  safe  a  guide  to  reality 
as  thinking.  The  beautiful  and  the  good  are  as  ulti- 
mate as  the  true,  and  feeling  is  quite  as  likely  to  be 
normal  as  willing  or  thought.  To  deny  the  objectivity 
of  beauty  and  right  and  the  validity  of  taste  and  con- 


212  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

science  is  mere  skepticism,  leading  only  to  psycho- 
logical absurdities. 

Feeling  needs  education,  and  receives  it  in  artis- 
tic study  and  moral  and  religious  restraints  and 
exercises. 

11.  Feelings  furnish  motives  for  action.  "We  eat 
because  we  are  hungry  and  fight  because  we  hate,  sigh 
because  sad  and  rave  because  in  love.  Without  such 
prompting  there  could  and  would  be  no  action  at  all. 
A  pain,  a  want,  a  desire,  an  antipathy,  an  affection, 
an  enthusiasm,  must  antedate  all  voluntary  or  involun- 
tary, conscious  or  subconscious,  action. 

12.  Feelings  have  their  language,  and  when  thus 
expressive  are  called  emotions.  They  utter  themselves 
directly  in  interjections,  and  indirectly  in  other  forms 
of  speech  through  accent  and  emphasis.  Facial  ex- 
pression, gesture,  and  the  well-known  outlets  for  pas- 
sion, all  convey  to  others  easily  our  liking,  love,  hate, 
scorn,  admiration,  sympathy,  or  delight  in  truth,  in 
art  and  in  righteousness.  Uncultivated  natures  are 
very  demonstrative  because  they  fail  of  education, 
which,  teaching  self-control,  suppresses  any  frank  dis- 
play of  feelings.  Culture,  developing  the  language  of 
thought,  represses  the  language  of  feeling. 

13.  The  diseases  of  feeling  belong  to  three  classes : 
incongruity,  excess  and  lacking — the  wrong  kind, 
too  much,  and  too  little.  Herein  find  explanation 
most  of  the  unnecessary  agonies  of  men,  and  much  of 
the  vice,  crime  and  pain  with  which  they  torment 
themselves  and  one  another. 


WILLING.  213 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

WILLING. 

1.  The  will  is  a  name  for  the  self-determining 
function.  Like  knowing  and  feeling,  it  is  a  primary 
mode  of  psychic  activity,  admitting  neither  of  analysis 
nor  of  definition.     Willing  is  to  will. 

2.  It  appears  in  mere  naked  protoplasm  as  a  self- 
determined  contractility.  In  zoospores,  spermatozoids, 
etc.,  it  attains  a  variety  of  action.  In  animal  and  vege- 
tal persons  it  occurs  as  a  common  function,  controlling 
the  general  movements  of  the  protoplasms  in  contact. 
With  the  appearance  of  nerve  cells  and  muscles,  its 
range  both  of  excitation  and  of  execution  is  vastly  en- 
larged. Indecision,  resolution  and  willfulness  are  to 
be  found  in  all  the  higher  animals. 

3.  The  end  organs  of  willing  are  the  muscles,  and 
the  media  of  control  are  the  efferent  or  motor 
nerves.  This  machinery  is  worked  by  discharge  of 
force  generated  in  nerve  cells,  the  act  of  discharge 
being  consciously  or  subconsciously  volitional.  Such 
force  is  derived  from  the  break  up  of  the  highly  com- 
plex and  unstable  nutritive  material  supplied  by  the 
blood,  and  is  the  release  of  a  kind  of  explosion.  (See 
p.  27.) 

Hence  vigorous  self-determination  depends  upon 
plentiful  and  wholesome  blood  supply,  or  ultimately 
upon  good  food  well  digested  and  good  air  well  in- 
haled. The  secret  of  energy,  and  even  of  ethics,  in 
the  last  analysis,  is  largely  in  sound  digestion  and  good 


214  THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 

ventilation.  Lessen  or  vitiate  the  supply  of  blood,  and 
you  may  produce  any  desired  degree  of  inaction  and 
helplessness.  On  the  contrary,  cerebral  congestion  in 
a  vigorous  person  (as  in  the  insane)  may  generate  tre- 
mendous outbursts  of  muscular  activity  and  stern  reso- 
lution. 

4.  "Willing,  in  intensity,  ranges  up  and  down  a 
scale  in  which  are  tliree  degrees — wishing,  purposing 
and  determining.  Weak  volition  wishes,  resolute  voli- 
tion purposes,  while  strong  volition  acts. 

5.  Willing  may  be  automatic,  reflex,  or  voluntary, 
and  may  take  place  in  single  cells  or  in  groups  of  cells, 
consciously  or  subconsciously. 

6.  The  diseases  of  will  are:  (1)  Indecision,  culmi- 
nating in  inaction,  dreams,  reverie,  hallucination,  hyp- 
nosis ;  or  (2)  willfulness,  culminating  in  insanity ;  or 
(3)  perversity,  culminating  in  self-determination  coun- 
ter to  higher  motives  and  in  defiance  of  laws  of  rec- 
titude. 

7.  Willing  is  powerfully  controlled  through  the 
feelings  by  the  cognitive  powers.  An  intelligent 
person  acts  in  harmony  with  his  mental  judgments, 
an  upright  one  in  obedience  to  his  moral  judg- 
ments, a  narrow  mind  in  servitude  to  his  preju- 
dices, and  a  fool  in  chase  of  his  dreams,  whims  and 
fancies. 

On  the  contrary,  willing  exercises  a  powerful  con- 
trol over  both  the  thinking  and  the  feeling.  It  can 
regulate  thought  by  calling  upon  the  appropriate  fac- 
ulties and  forcing  them  to  do  their  work ;  it  can  in- 
flame or  restrain  passion  by  discriminate  manipulation 
of  the  proper  nerve  centers.  Were  this  not  so,  no  men- 
tal work  would  ever  be  done  and  no  moral  accounta- 


WILLING.  215 

bility  ever  incurredc  We  can  play  upon  our  cognitive 
and  emotional  natures  much  as  a  musician  upon  his 
instrument,  the  while  he — and  we — arc  ourselves  affect- 
ed by  our  own  music. 

8.  There  is  no  willing  without  motives  furnished 
by  feeling.  The  most  absorbing  and  important  con- 
troversy in  all  ages  has  been  whether  these  motives 
control,  necessarily,  as  absolute  causes  of  action,  or 
whether  mind  has  any  real  power  of  self-determination. 
It  is  admitted  by  all  that  motives  occasion ;  but  do 
they  determine?  The  automatists,  and  all  material- 
ists. Stoics  and  fatalists,  and  among  theologians  the 
Calvinists  who  believe  in  absolute  Divine  decrees,  say 
yes.  But  consciousness,  conscience  and  common  sense, 
denying  this  atrocity,  affirm  human  freedom.  The 
range  of  choice  may  be  very  narrow,  but  within  this 
range  the  will  is  free.  The  method  of  this  freedom  is 
a  very  great  mystery.  It  seems  to  involve  an  act  of 
causation,  a  new  beginning,  in  each  determination. 
It  introduces  into  human  affairs  an  element  of  caprice, 
which,  if  the  sphere  of  choice  were  less  limited,  might 
prove  fatal  to  consistency  and  remove  history  from  the 
domain  of  science.  Yet,  undoubtedly,  that  element  of 
caprice  is  present  in  all  human  conduct,  and,  as  Froude 
the  historian  admits,  history  is  not  and  can  not  be  an 
exact  science. 

9,  As  the  grade  of  being  rises,  self-determination 
becomes  less  limited  by  conditions.  Among  proto- 
zoans, freedom  and  necessity  must  be  almost  inter- 
changeable terms.  The  same  is  true  of  our  own  indi- 
vidual cells  and  lower  nerve  centers.  As  personality 
becomes  emphatic  in  the  progress  of  evolution,  the 
range  of  freedom  enlarges.   With  this  enlargement  ap- 


216  THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 

pears  development  of  what  we  call  the  moral  nature. 
What  we  name  moral  feelings  become  so  because  in 
them  .personality  determines  itself  in  lines  of  rec- 
titude. 

Personal  character,  though  exceedingly  complex, 
is  largely  the  result  of  volition  manipulating  other 
psychic  elements,  and  in  turn  manipulated  by  them. 
As  every  cognitive  state  leaves  its  traces  in  memory 
and  in  modified  mental  habitudes,  and  as  every  feeling 
adds  its  increment  of  modification,  so  every  volition 
cuts  its  own  figures  and  works  its  own  results ;  hence 
regret,  self -contempt  and  remorse,  and  the  opposite. 
A  Commodus,  a  Csesar  Borgia,  or  a  Marat  alongside  of 
a  St.  Cecilia,  a  Francis  of  Assisi,  or  a  George  Washing- 
ton show  how  low  or  how  high  human  character  may 
fall  or  rise.  The  mind  is  a  tablet,  on  which  has  been 
engraven  tokens  of  all  deeds  and  feelings,  good  and 
bad  ;  and  discernment  of  character  is  the  truthful  read- 
ing of  these  fateful  hieroglyphs.  You  are  what  you 
have  made  yourself  to  become.  Circumstances  condi- 
tion the  outer  appearance  and  the  superficial  display  of 
the  nature ;  but  responsible  choice  carves  out  the  per- 
manent moral  character,  Plato,  in  his  Gorgias,  pic- 
tures Rhadamanthus  as  finding  the  soul  of  the  tyrant 
"  full  of  the  prints  and  scars  of  prejudices  and  wrongs, 
which  have  been  stamped  there  by  each  action."  Lu- 
cian,  in  his  Dialogues  of  the  Dead,  makes  the  departed 
strip  before  the  judge  for  examination ;  and  he  avers 
that  burned  in  upon  the  breast  of  every  one  are  found 
marks  left  by  the  sins  of  a  past  life,  unseen  of  mortal 
eyes  yet  visible  to  divine  justice.  And  our  own  Ten- 
nyson only  voices  the  moral  sense  of  the  whole  world, 


WILLING.  21T 

and  puts  into  picturesque  form  the  conclusions  of  pro- 
foundest  ethicui  philosophy,  when  he  sings  of  the 
unjust  man,  that  he 

"...  bears  about 
A  silent  court  of  justice  in  his  breast, 
Himself  the  judge  and  jury,  and  himself 
The  prisoner  at  the  bar,  ever  condemned." 


15 


INDEX 


Absent-mindedness,  46,  59. 

Acceleration  of  nervous  activ- 
ity in  hypnosis,  90. 

Actinozoa,  31. 

Alcoholism,  115. 

Animal  magnetism,  103. 

Ants,  amazing  psychic  activity 
of,  32-34 ;  education  of  their 
young,  53. 

Aphorisms,  193. 

Arrangement  of  projected  sen- 
sations, 170. 

Association  of  ideas,  47  et  seq. 

Atavism  in  crime,  122. 

Attention,  43  et  seq. ;  in  sensa- 
tion, 162;  in  perception,  174. 

.    See  also  205. 

Auditory  spectra,  163. 

Automatic  action  of  nerve  cells, 
28. 

Bacteria,  possessing  an  oxygen 
sense,  16,  17. 

Beauty,  202,  203. 

Bees,  education  of  young,  52. 

Being,  203. 

Bernheim's  method  of  hypno- 
tizing, 85. 

Black  art,  101. 


Bodo  caudatus,  21,  22. 

Bougainvillea,  30. 

Brain,    evolution    of,  35,   36; 

effect  of  losses,  39 ;  greed,  64 ; 

care  of,  65,  66. 

California  woodpeckers,  won- 
derful intelligence  of,  57. 

Catalepsy  in  hypnosis,  88. 

Centiped,  psychic  behavior 
when  beheaded,  31, 32. 

Character,  personal,  216. 

Christian  science,  63. 

Classification,  195. 

Comparison,  188  et  seq. 

Conception,  188,  189. 

Consciousness,  its  retreat,  38, 
39 ;  in  general,  42  et  seq. ; 
withdrawal  in  dreaming, 
73. 

Conservation  of  energy  in  psy- 
chosis, 29. 

Co-ordinating  lobes,  35-37. 

Cramming,  180. 

Criminality,  120  et  seq. 

Cross-mesmerism,  97. 

Crystal  vision,  100,  101,  175. 

Deity,  203,  204. 


220 


THE  PSYCHIC  FACTOR. 


Desmids,  their  sunshine  sense, 
17. 

Disease  cured  and  caused  by- 
ideas,  62,  63  ;  psychology  of, 
118  et  seq. 

Dogs,  inheritance  of  habit,  55. 

Dreaming,  72  et  seq.,  180. 

EchinoderTYiata,  31. 

Ecstasy,  47. 

Education,  in  prevention  of 
crime,  125  ;  of  sensation,  173, 
'174. 

Electro-biology,  103. 

Ellis,  on  crime,  130. 

Emotions,  312. 

End  organs,  128  et  seq. 

Epidemics,  of  hysteria,  118, 
119;  of  crime,  123. 

Eternity,  203. 

Ethical  bearings  of  hypnotism, 
99. 

Evolution,  as  a  working  theory, 
9,  10;  in  general,  138,  139. 

Expression,  laws  of,  197;  his- 
tory of,  198. 199. 

Eye-specks,  147. 

Faculties,  305. 
Faith-cure,  03. 
Feeling,  301,  303. 
Fevers  and  hallucination,  115. 
Forgetfulness,  170,  177,  181. 
Formal  thought,  200  ef  seq. 
Functions,   effect    of     mental 
states  upon,  61. 

Ganglia,  relative  value  of  mass 
and  weight,  37. 


General  sense,  131,  133. 
Genius,  187,  191,  193. 
Guilt  of  crime,  136,  137. 
Gustatory  buds,  143. 

Habit,  28,  50,  53  et  seq. 
Hallucination,  110  et  seq.,  173, 

186. 
Hammond,  on  the  inheritance 

of  habit,  54. 
Harmony,  155. 
Hearing.  153  et  seq. 
Hebrew  prophecy,  109,  110. 
Heredity  in  crime,  132. 
Humor,  194. 
Hydra,  25,  26. 
Hypnosis,  84  ct  seq. 
Hypnotic  sleep  personality,  91, 

et  seq. 
Hysteria,  118  et  seq. 

Ideas,  183. 

Identity,  personal,  204. 

Illusion,  200 ;  in  sensation,  163, 
104;  in  perception,  172;  in 
memory,  176 ;  in  recollec- 
tion, 181 ;  in  imagination, 
187 ;  in  the  comparative  pro- 
cess, 199,  200. 

Imagination,  182  et  seq. 

Inference,  190. 

Infinity,  203. 

Inhibition,  28  ;  in  hypnosis,  90. 

Insanity,  115,  116. 

Insomnia,  deceptive,  77. 

Inspiration,  106,  107. 

Instinct,  powerful  even  <it 
birth,  50,  57;  fixed  by  inlior- 
itancc,  55  et  seq. ;  in  inverse 


INDEX. 


221 


ratio  to  initiative  intcll  igcnce, 
58. 
Iiitonsity,   relative,  of    mental 
states,  205. 

James,  on  sensation,  165. 
^    Janet,  on  hysteria,  119. 
Jerks,  the,  119. 
Judgment,  189. 
Jukes  family,  123. 

Kea,  the,  56. 

Kittens,    born  with   inherited 

habits,  55. 
Krause,  corpuscles  of,  34. 

Ladd's  theory  of  dreaming,  75. 

Language,  196  et  seq. ;  of  bees, 
197 ;  of  monkeys,  197. 

Le  Conte,  on  instinct,  55.  58. 

Lemming,  the  stupidity  of  its 
instinct,  58,  59. 

Leonie  B ,  93,  94, 108, 109. 

Lethargy  in  hypnosis,  87. 

Living  matter  always  psychic, 
14. 

Localization  of  sensations,  168. 

Logic,  laws  of,  203. 

Lotze,  on  relation  between  mo- 
tions and  sensations,  159 ;  on 
local  signs,  168,  169;  on 
vision  in  estimate  of  size, 
etc.,  171. 

Lucidity,  107  et  seq. 

Memory,  in  hypnosis,  95;   in 

general,  175  et  seq. 
Metaphysics,  185. 


Micro  -  organisms,       psychic, 

1-24. 
Mind-cure,  63. 
Morgan,   Lloyd,    on    instincts 

fixed  by  natural  selection,  57. 
Morphine,  results  of  use  of,  114. 
Multiple  personality,  93  et  seq., 

178. 
Muscular  sense,  136  et  seq. 
Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  on  multiple 

personality,  94,  95. 
Mysis,  auditory  hairs  in  tail  of, 

153. 

Nature- worship,  112. 

Nerve  force,  speed  of,  26;  source 
of,  27. 

Nerve  systems,  24  et  seq.,  30 
et  seq. 

Nervous  dyspepsia,  64, 

Nervous  prostration,  64,  65. 

Newnham,  Rev.  P.  II.,  experi- 
ments in  thought-transfer- 
ence, 105. 

Oracles,  101. 
Oscillator  ia,  17,  18. 
Ovid,  on  habit,  53. 

Pacini,  corpuscles  of,  133. 
Pandorina,  pigment  spots,  17. 
Percept,  171. 
Perception,  166  et  seq. 
Personal  identity  and    unity, 

204. 
Personality,    multiple,    93    et 

seq.,  178. 
Pigeons,  intelligence  of,  52. 
Pigment  spots,  147. 


222 


THE  PSYCHIC   FACTOR. 


Pitch,  155. 

Plants,  as  distinct  from  ani- 
mals, 16. 

Postulates,  hereditary,  204. 

Pressure  spots,  134. 

Projection  of  sensations,  169. 

Proust,  remarkable  case  of  sec- 
ondary personality,  92. 

Psychology,  defined,  1 ;  histoiy. 
1,2,3;  scope,  10;  future,  10; 
methods,  11,  12 ;  bibliogra- 
phy, 12,  13. 

Putrefaction,  evidence  of  psy- 
chosis in,  22. 

Reaction  time,  29. 
Reasoning,  190. 
Recollection,  178  et  seq. 
Reflex  action  of  nerves,  28. 
Reminiscence,  179. 
Retina,  the  human,  148. 
Reverie,  186. 
Rhythm  of  emotion,  210. 
Rogue  elephant,  120. 

St.  Vitus's  dance,  119. 
Sanitation,  moral,  125. 
Satire,  194,  195. 
Savages  and  hallucination.  111, 

112. 
Secondary  personality,  92  et  seq. 
Self-determination,  215. 
Sensation,  158  et  seq. 
Sensationalism  as  affected  by 

thought-transference,  106. 
Shakespeare  on  habit,  52. 
Sight,  146  et  seq ;  estimates  of 

distance,  etc.,  by,  170,  171. 
Sleep,  69  et  seq. 


Smell,  138  et  seq. 

Somnambulism,  80  et  seq.  ;  in 
hypnosis,  88,  89. 

Space,  202. 

Specific  energy  of  nerve  cells 
and  systems,  28. 

Speculation,  value  of,  3 ;  de- 
fects, 4 ;  theories  of  mind,  5 
et  seq. 

Spinal  cord,  relations  between 
enlargements  and  psychic 
development,  84-36. 

Subconsciousness,  67  et  seq.  ;  in 
sensation,  162 ;  in  percep- 
tion, 174. 

Suggestion,  in  hypnosis,  89,  95, 
96 ;  as  a  phase  of  recollection, 
179. 

Surprise,  45,  46. 

Swallows,  intelligence  of,  52. 

Synthesis  of  sense  impressions, 
157,  158. 

Taste,  142  et  seq. ;  laws  of,  202, 

203. 
Temperature  end  organs,  144 

et  seq. 
Thought-transference,    103    et 

seq. 
Timbre,  155. 
Time,  202. 

Tissue  plants,  psychic.  21,  22. 
Tobacco,  results  of  use  of,  113, 

114. 
Touch,  133  et  seq. ;  estimate  of 

size,  etc.,  by,  170. 

Union  relief  and  pauperism, 
125,  126. 


INDEX. 


223 


Unity,  personal,  204. 

Vohvx,  18. 
Vorticella,  23. 

Wagner,  corpuscles  of,  134. 
Wasp,  wonderful    instinct   of 

the,  57,  58. 
Will,  the  human,  freedom   of, 

215. 


Willing,  201,  202 ;  laws  of,  203, 

2V6  et  seq. 
Wit,  192,  193. 
Witches,  101. 

Yellow  spot  of  human  eye,  149. 

Zero  point,  of  temperature  end 
organs,  145  :  of  feeling,  209. 
Zoufhamnium,  24. 


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"A  book  of  genuine  literary  interest  and  value."— Cfe«"«/«wc?  Herald. 

"  Within  its  covers  there  is  a  wealth  of  enidition,  research,  and  scholarly  Iphor, 
which  places  the  book  beside  those  of  Wright,  Spalding,  and  Craik.  The  English 
of  the  writer  is  a  model  for  clearness  and  point."— f7k'a  Daily  Obserr'tr. 

"  One  of  the  most  thorough  and  beet-arranged  hooks  on  the  subject  that  we 
have  seen." — Troy  Press. 

New  York :   D.  APPLETOX  &  CO.,  1,  3,  5  Bond  Street. 


D.  APPLETON   &    CO, '8   PUBLICATIONS. 


HERBERT   SPENCER'S   COMPLETE  WORKS. 


The  works  of  the  philosopher  of  Evolution  consist  of  the  series  under 
the  general  title  of  The  Synthetic  Philosophy,  and  of  the  other  volumes 
named  below.  No  other  author  has  developed  the  principles  of  evolu- 
tion so  completely  and  systematically  as  Spencer  has.  In  the  nine  vol- 
umes of  the  Synthetic  Philosophy  he  shows  that  this  great  process  is 
constantly  going  on  in  the  universe  as  a  whole  and  in  all  (or  nearly  all) 
its  details ;  in  the  aggregate  of  stars  and  nebulae ;  in  the  planetary  sys- 
tem ;  in  the  earth  as  an  inorganic  mass ;  in  each  organism,  vegetal  or 
animal  (Von  Baer's  law) ;  in  the  aggregate  of  organisms  throughout 
geologic  time;  in  the  mind;  in  society;  in  all  products  of  social  activity. 
He  makes  practical  applications  to  both  private  conduct  and  public  affairs 
— to  education,  commerce,  government,  philanthropy,  religion,  and  morals. 

Some  readers  have  found  the  technical  terms,  which  a  superficial 
glance  has  revealed  to  them,  somewhat  of  a  hindrance.  Mr.  Spencer's 
style  is,  however,  remarkable  for  its  clearness  of  statement  and  its 
wealth  of  illustration.  The  technical  terms,  which  result  from  condens- 
ing phrases  into  single  words,  are  required  for  accuracy,  and  the  reading 
of  a  chapter  or  two  takes  away  all  their  strangeness. 

These  books  present  such  convincing  arguments  that  they  have  won 
the  immediate  assent  and  the  enthusiastic  adherence  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  readers  to  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  and  they  arc  likely  to 
have  even  greater  influence  in  the  future  than  they  have  had  in  the  past. 

SYNTHETIC   PHILOSOPHY: 

First  Principles.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

I.  The  Unknowable.  II.  Laws  of  the  Knowable. 

The  Principles  of  Biology.     2  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $4.00. 
I.  The  Data  of  Biology.  IV.  Morphological  Development. 

II.  The  Inductions  of  Biology.       V.  Physiological  Development. 
III.  The  Evolution  of  Life.  VI.  Laws  of  Multiplication. 

The  Principles  of  Psychology.     2  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $4.00. 
I.  The  Data  of  Psychology.  V.  Physical  Synthesis. 

II.  The  Inductions  of  Psy-         VI.  Special  Analysis, 
chology.  VII.  General  Analysis. 

III.  General  Synthesis.  VIII.  Congruities. 

IV.  Special  Synthesis.  IX.  Corollaries. 

The  Principles  of  Sociology.     2  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $4.00, 
I.  The  Data  of  Sociology.  III.  The  Domestic  Relations. 

II.  The  Inductions  of  Soci-        IV.  Ceremonial  Institutions, 
ology.  V.  Political  Institutions. 

VI.  Ecclesiastical  Institutions. 


D.  APPLETON   &   GO. '8   PUBLICATIONS. 


HERBERT  SPENCER'S   COMPLETE   VfOTiKQ.— {Continued.) 

The  Principles  of  Ethics.     2  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $4.00. 
I.  The  Data  of  Ethics. 
II.  The  Inductions  of  Ethics. 

III.  The  Ethics  of  Individual  Life. 

IV.  The  Ethics  of  Social  Life :  Justice. 

V.  The  Ethics  of  Social  Life :  Negative  Beneficence. 
VI.  The  Ethics  of  Social  Life :  Positive  Beneficence. 

Detailed  list  of  chapter  titles  of  the  "  Synthetic  Philosophy,"  some 
four  hundred  in  number,  sent  on  request. 

ESSAYS :  Scientific,  Political,  and  Speculative.     New  edition, 
complete,  comprising  Forty-three  Essays.     With  full  Subject-Index 
of  24  pages.     3  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $G.OO. 
Complete  list  of  titles  of  the  essays  sent  on  request. 

SOCIAL    STATICS,   Abridged   and    Revised;    and   THE    MAN 

versus  THE    STATE.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

THE   STUDY  OF   SOCIOLOGY.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

EDUCATION.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $1.25  ;  paper,  50  cents. 

THE  INADEQUACY  OF  "NATURAL  SELECTION." 

12mo.     Paper,  .30  cents. 

DESCRIPTIVE  SOCIOLOGY.  A  Cyclopaedia  of  Social  Facts, 
representing  the  Constitution  of  Every  Type  and  Grade  of  Human 
Society,  Past  and  Present,  Stationary  and  Progressive.  Classified 
and  Tabulated  for  Easy  Comparison  and  Convenient  Study  of  the 
Relations  of  Social  Phenomena. 
Eight  parts,  royal  folio :  I.English.    2.  Mexicans,  Central  Americans, 

Chibchas,  and  Peruvians.     3.  Lowest  Races,  Negrito  Races,  and  Malayo- 

Polj'nesian  Races.     4.  African  Races.     5.  Asiatic  Races.     6.  American 

Races.     T.  Hebrews  and  Phoenicians.     8.  French. 

Price  of  first  seven  parts,  each,  $4.00 ;   Part  VIII,  double  number, 
$7.00.     (Sold  by  subscription.) 


New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


D.   APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

New  Volumes  in  the  International  Education  Series. 
^YMBOLIC  EDUCATION.     By  Susan  E.  Blow. 

v-3       i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

This  book  discusses  in  a  practical  way  the  foundations  of  the  philosophy 
of  Frojbel  as  found  in  "The  Mother's  ?ongs  and  Games" — Mutter- und 
Koselieder— and  shows  in  a  clear  manner  the  significance  of  the  kindergarten 
and  its  claims  for  the  important  place  of  corner  stone  of  education.  It  is 
emphatically  a  book  for  mothers  as  well  as  for  teachers,  as  it  gives  the  de- 
sired aid  and  interpretation  of  the  actions,  feelings,  and  thoughts  of  infancy, 
and  unfolds  the  true  method  of  training  as  taught  by  Froebel. 

TTOW   TO    STUDY  AND    TEACH  HISTORY. 
J-  J-    With  Particular  Reference  to  the  History  of  the  United  States. 
By  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Science 
and  the  Art  of  Teaching  in  the  University  of  Michigan  ;  author 
of  "Schools  and  Studies,"  etc.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 
The  aim  of  this  book  is  practical,  and  it  was  written  with  particular  ref- 
erence to  the  needs  of  elementary  and  secondary  teachers,  although  it  will 
be  found  of  interest  and  value  to  teachers  and  students  of  all  grades.     Its 
main  purpose  is  to  state  the  uses  of  history,  to  define  in  a  general  way  its 
field,  to  present  and  illustrate  criteria  for  the  choice  of  facts,  to  emphasize 
the  organization  of  facts  with  reference  to  the  three  principles  of  associa- 
tion, to  indicate  sources  of  information,  to  describe  the  qualifications  of  the 
teacher,  and  finally  to  illustrate  causation  and  the  grouping  of  facts  by  draw- 
ing the  outlines  of  some  important  chapters  of  American  history. 

n RENTAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  THE  CHILD. 
■I  yJ-    By  W.  Preyer,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  University  of 

Jena  ;  author  of  "  The  Mind  of  the  Child."  -  Translated  by  H. 

W.  Brown.  i2mo.  Cloth,  $1.00. 
The  special  object  of  this  book,  as  announced  by  Dr.  Preyer  in  his  pref- 
ace, is  to  initiate  mothers  in  the  complicated  science  of  psychogenesis.  The 
author  desires  to  evoke  a  widespread  interest  in  the  study  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  infant  mind,  and  has  selected,  from  the  extensive  material  he 
has  gathered  in  a  long  period  of  systematic  observation,  that  which  has  spe- 
cial reference  to  practical  application. 

EDUCATION  FROM  A  NATIONAL  STAND- 
-«—- '    POIVT.      By  Alfred   Fouillee.      Translated   and   edited, 
with  a  Preface,  by  W.  J.  Greenstreet,  M.  A.,  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge  ;  Head  Master  of  the  Marling  School,  Stroud. 
'  i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 
Fouillee's  work  is  a  timely  and  valuable  contribution  to  the  discussions 
of  some  of  the  important  educational  questions  that  are  at  present  claiming 
attention  in  both  this  country  and  Europe. 

New  York  :   D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  i,  3.  &  5  Bond  Street. 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped,  below 


APR  1  b  1948 


Foi-m.L-9-35m-8,'28 


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